Yan Xishan's sigh made the confidants and generals feel uncomfortable, after all, Shanxi's current achievements are their hard work.

"Overseer, we haven't lost yet, you must not lose your fighting spirit, the future of the entire Three Jin Land is on you." Shang Zhen said loudly.

The other generals also loudly persuaded him, after all, Yan Xishan was the leader of the situation in Shanxi, and if he lost his fighting spirit, then the future of the entire Shanxi would be dark.

"Shang Zhen, you lead the First Division and the First Brigade to set off for the south immediately, and the way out for our Three Jin Land is on you." Yan Xishan pondered for a long time, and finally made up his mind. He didn't want Shanxi to be seized by the Beiyang armed forces, and he didn't want the Beijing government to infiltrate and control it bloodlessly. His only hope is to defeat Beiyang, at least so that he does not have the strength to come to Shanxi.

"Yes!" Shang Zhen was very excited. As Yan Xishan's confidant, to be honest, Shang Zhen also rarely had the opportunity to go to the battlefield. Although Yang Aiyuan was defeated in Henan, he also played the prestige of the Jin army. After all, his opponent is the famous Beiyang player Wu Peifu. Now that he Shang Zhen finally has the opportunity to go to the battlefield and have a long time with a famous general like Wu Peifu, of course he is very excited. Although Shang Zhen is also a soldier, both civil and military, his military ability is not recognized, because he lacks military merits in his hands, so Shang Zhen is extremely eager to go to the battlefield.

Yan Xishan's actions naturally couldn't be concealed from the Northeast, and Feng Yong couldn't help Yan Xishan's ignorance. But he can also understand Yan Xishan's unwilling mentality, after all, they are already the head of one or more provinces under their rule, as long as they have a general, they may not be able to get into hegemony and implement their revolutionary ideas. Yan Xishan is not Cai Yi, Cai Yi is more like a pure soldier than a political leader, therefore, after he inspected the political system of the Northeast, he decided to incorporate into the Northeast and accelerate the pace of China's unification. Yan Xishan, on the other hand, is a scheming politician who came from the most turbulent era in China. I have seen too many examples of great development potential but nothing in the end. Therefore, people like them believe in politics and governing the country only themselves.

When Yan Xishan finally chose to face Beiyang, and when a fierce battle was launched between northern Henan and Beiyang, the situation between the two Guangxi provinces underwent a shocking reversal. Li Zongren, who had infiltrated the territory of Guangdong, united with Chiang Kai-shek's party troops and ambushed Lu Rongting's troops, and fought fiercely. Lu Rongting suffered heavy losses. It was necessary to order the troops of the entire territory of Guangdong to quickly assemble and prepare to extinguish the troops of Li Zongren and Chiang Kai-shek.

Faced with this situation, Li Zongren's troops made a dangerous move, ran a long distance, and rushed straight to Guangzhou City, and overnight, Guangzhou City changed hands. All the 3,000 defenders of Guangzhou were disarmed, and together with the surrender of the Gui army captured by Li Zongren along the way, Li Zongren's troops swelled to 12,000 in a short time. Li Zongren also officially waved the banner of the independent brigade of the National Defense Forces. For a time, people's hearts in Guangdong fluctuated.

Lu Rongting knew that after Li Zongren took Guangzhou City, he gathered 30,000 troops to attack Guangzhou City. was lured by Li Zongren step by step, and his troops were scattered, and he was finally defeated in the city of Guangzhou. The Lu father and son fled in a hurry, and more than half of the 30,000 Gui army was lost. For a time, the strength of the Gui system shrank greatly and completely lost control of Guangdong. Evacuated from the Guangzhou area in embarrassment.

The Lu father and son were unwilling to fail, and after active retraction, in the end, less than 10,000 of the 30,000 defeated troops were obtained, and 5,000 elite soldiers were transferred from Guangxi, barely protecting themselves and controlling a quarter of the land in Guangdong Province.

Li Zongren carried the power of a great victory, swept through the surrounding areas of Guangzhou, and his power expanded the fastest, and in an extreme time, almost half of the land in Guangdong had fallen into Li Zongren's hands.

The remaining quarter of the territory was controlled by Chiang Kai-shek's party forces. In this era, Li Zongren's rise is earlier than in history. And Chiang Kai-shek's grasp of military power was also advanced. The difference is that Chiang Kai-shek now controls the party army, not the student army of the Whampoa Military Academy. Although the Kuomintang has completed its reorganization, it has not yet formed a strong ruling system internally. Nor is there a stable base for development. All this led to the fact that the expansion of the party army was not as fast as that of Li Zongren.

The sudden reversal of the situation between the two provinces has attracted the attention of all forces, and the coexistence of three forces within a province has made the surrounding forces inevitably have some other ideas.

Beijing, Young Marshal's Mansion.

"Young Marshal, Li Zongren has accepted the conditions of the Wehrmacht and is willing to serve as the commander of the First Independent Division of the Wehrmacht. Other conditions have also been accepted. Li Yang said excitedly. Li Zongren's entry into the Beijing government means that the Beijing government has planted a nail in the south, and Li Zongren himself can fight it, and no one can guarantee that Li Zongren will become a means for the Beijing government to attack from both sides.

Of course, Li Zongren's entry into the Beijing government is still in a state of secret contact, and Beijing has not yet taken the means to implement it.

"Great. Immediately let our men go south and concentrate on assisting Li Zongren in controlling the troops. Feng Yong said excitedly.

"Young marshal, does Liangguang really want to hand it over to Li Zongren?" Li Yang didn't know why Feng Yong was so confident in this person he had never met.

"Through the battle between Liangguang, you should be able to see Li Zongren's ability! Although I have never met him, I feel that he is a handsome talent worthy of my training. Of course, Feng Yong can't say the real reason, after all, it is his biggest secret to travel from the afterlife.

"Young marshal, should we send political workers there first, and then allocate military supplies when we have a certain grasp of the situation?" Li Yang suggested. He still lacks trust in Li Zongren, after all, it is really difficult to judge Li Zongren's personality just by relying on intelligence.

"No need, don't be suspicious of employing people, don't use suspicious people. At this time, we have the slightest suspicion that the move will dampen Li Zongren's enthusiasm. As the central government, we must have the courage of the central government. What's more, these weapons support has been promised a long time ago. Feng Yong smiled and waved his hand. To be honest, he couldn't be sure of Li Zongren's attitude, after all, Feng Yong's understanding of Li Zongren was only from the memories of later generations. Li Zongren was a man who could wrestle with Chiang Kai-shek, but unfortunately, he was a military leader and his political methods were much worse. Therefore, it was eaten to death by Chiang Kai-shek in the political game. In the end, tragedy ended. But now Feng Yong chooses to believe Li Zongren. After all, such a commander-level figure is worth Feng Yong's price to fight for.

When the Northeast secretly mobilized manpower and material resources to reinforce Li Zongren. Shanxi Yan Xishan's face was already extremely bitter. The telegram of the defeat at the front made his face bitter.

Shang Zhen joined Yang Aiyuan and launched an attack on Wu Peifu's forces. With the sudden arrival of reinforcements and the sharpness that had just entered the battlefield, Wu Peifu's Beiyang Army did suffer some losses. But in this case, Wu Peifu's ability was shown and he showed super resilience. As the saying goes, one blow, then decline, three and exhaustion. The Jin army faced this situation. When Wu Peifu gradually reversed the decline, Beiyang reinforcements rushed to the battlefield. Under the mobilization of Wu Peifu, the Beiyang Army launched a large-scale counteroffensive, and the battlefield was stalemate. In the end, Beiyang had a slight advantage, not only repelling the Jin army, but also eating all the regiments in charge of the Jin army. Then Beiyang launched a frantic pursuit. The Jin army retreated again and again, and finally several counties in northern Henan fell into the hands of Beiyang. Xinxiang, an important town in northern Henan, was also captured. The defeat of the Jin army has been born.

The telegram was sent back to Taiyuan, and Yan Xishan couldn't sit still. You must know that the 30,000 army that went south is the essence of the Jin army, and it is the elite army that he started from Yan Xishan. Coupled with the cooperation of the remnants of the 20,000 Yu army, they were defeated by Wu Peifu. Seeing that the entire northern part of Henan was not guaranteed, Yan Xishan finally knew that it was a wrong decision to resist Beiyang.

Walking around anxiously, Yan Xishan still couldn't make up his mind. Regarding the conditions put forward by the Beijing government, Yan Xishan, who was originally stable as the emperor of other lands, was dismissive. The condition of the Beijing government was that Yan Xishan would lead Shanxi to be incorporated into Beijing, and the Beijing government would appoint him as the commander of the Shanxi garrison and control the military power of Shanxi. At the same time, the governor of Shanxi can also be appointed by the person he recommends. If Yan Xishan agrees to this condition, he can still be his Shanxi Emperor in a short period of time. But then the Jin army will no longer be the Jin army. With Feng Shaoshuai's means, I am afraid that it will not be long before the army in his hands and the entire Shanxi will no longer be surnamed Yan. It was precisely because of this understanding that Yan Xishan would disdain it at that time. It's just that he is afraid of Beijing's great power and does not dare to resist head-on.

Now that Beiyang has hit the doorstep, if he doesn't react again, he really lets Beiyang Wu Peifu enter Shanxi, even if he can keep Shanxi in the end, it is impossible to have the current power at all. After all, Beijing's infiltration is pervasive. Especially now that the entire Shanxi economy is controlled by the Beijing government, Yan Xishan is not confident that he will be able to recover to the current situation after a great loss of strength.

"Go and ask the envoys of the central government." Yan Xishan finally made a decision. Compared with Beiyang, the Beijing government is more likely to unify China in the future. As a politician with extraordinary vision, Yan Xishan is still very clear about this. Moreover, there is still a chance to command the army when he joins the Beijing government, but if he is beaten into Shanxi by Beiyang, he Yan Xishan will be a vacant post in the military senate if he is lucky. How to choose Yan Xishan naturally sees it very clearly.

On April 11, 1917, Yan Xishan, the overseer of Shanxi, sent a telegram to the whole country, and the Shanxi government broke away from the jurisdiction of the Beiyang Governor's Office and was officially merged into the central government in Beijing. Yan Xishan himself was removed from his post as overseer and assumed the post of commander of the Shanxi garrison. The governor of Shanxi Province was served by Shang Zhen, a general of the Jin army under Yan Xishan.

This telegram stunned all forces across the country. The battlefields on all sides also came to a stagnation because of this electrification. One of the most depressing is Beiyang. It was not that he did not think that the Northeast would infiltrate, but he did not expect that Yan Xishan would announce his entry into the Beijing government before Beiyang entered Shanxi. Therefore, they were almost unprepared, and the Henan battlefield suddenly became embarrassing. Wu Peifu urgently telegraphed Feng Guozhang to ask for instructions on the next move.

(To be continued)