"Again, what should we do now?" After Xu Shuzheng came to Duan Qirui's mansion in Tianjin, he listened to Duan Qirui's inquiry. Xu Shuzheng sighed and shook his head.

Duan Qirui made a bitter face and said, "The Northeast Army is getting braver and braver the more they fight, will they enter the customs here." ”

Xu Shuzheng said: "Duke, for today's plan, the only way to do this is to ask for foreign aid." ”

Duan Qirui groaned: "If you have a way, then it will be excellent, then it will be excellent." After thinking about foreign aid, I was happy again, this foreign aid is naturally a foreigner, Wang Maoru has a lot of ability to beat the water dogs, but he doesn't have the ability to take the initiative to confront the powers. Thinking of this, Duan Qirui relaxed in his heart, beckoned to Xu Shuzheng again, and said, "Come, let's kill a game of chess." ”

Xu Shuzheng heard that Duan Qirui was going to play chess with him, and the corners of his mouth cramped unconsciously, playing chess with Duan Qirui was an extremely headache.

It turns out that Duan Qirui has a hobby of playing chess, but this person is a stinky chess basket, alas, he always loves to win, but whenever someone comes, he will be pulled over to kill a few games, and if he wins, he will be happy, and if he loses, he will be angry and drive people away. If others ask him to do something, he will definitely lose to him, but Duan Qirui still doesn't let others deliberately let him lose, if he sees that others are conceding chess, he will be so angry that he will overturn the table and drive people away. Once, Duan Qirui and his son Duan Hongye played chess. At the end of the chess game, Duan Qirui lost a lot, so he angrily reprimanded Duan Hongye and said: "You kid, you can't do anything, you know how to play this, what will you do in the future?" After Duan Hongye was reprimanded, he had no choice but to retreat. Later, his son deliberately lost to Duan Qirui, and Duan Qirui scolded again: "You kid, you can't even play chess well, what can you do in the future?" "The left and right are reasonable, a typical Lao Tzu style, which makes his son embarrassed, and he doesn't know what to do.

Duan Qirui can do this to his son, let alone others, so Xu Shuzheng was very embarrassed, so he had to sit down and say: "Governor (Duan Qirui is the supervisor of the training office)." I think the Northeast Army intends to withdraw. Duan Qirui nodded, set up the chess, and said, "Be the first cannon!" ”

Xu Shuzheng jumped off the horse, Duan Qirui arched, and said, "This is inevitable. It's just that I didn't expect Wang Maoru's subordinates to be like clouds. Who is this Mao Ziping, why haven't I heard of it? ”

Xu Shuzheng flew a photo and said: "This person is from Shaanxi, and his ancestors are from Shaanxi Green Camp. He studied at the Shaanxi Wubei School at a young age, and later studied at the Tianjin Wubei School for a year. Later, he went to Shandong as a cavalry sentry commander. Married a young lady of the Confucian family in Shandong, and the young lady of the Confucian family married a poor sentinel in Shaanxi, which was famous in Shandong at that time. Later, he went to Heilongjiang to become a cavalry battalion commander, and after the Republic of China, he became a cavalry deputy brigade commander. When Wang Maoru occupied Heilongjiang, he led the remnants of the defeated army to attack the rear. almost made Wang Maoru fall short. Later, he surrendered to Wang Maoru and became his general. ”

Duan Qirui jumped off his horse and said: "This person is a talent, a talent, it's a pity, it's a pity that it's not from our Anhui family." ”

At this time, Duan Hongye, the eldest son of Qi Rui, hurriedly walked in and said excitedly: "Father, father, it's a good thing." Meddlesome! Seeing that Xu Shuzheng was also there, he smiled and said, "Brother Zheng is also there, just right, a great event." ”

Duan Qirui said: "What's the matter? ”

Duan Hongye said: "The Northeast Army has withdrawn and returned to Shanhaiguan. ”

"What?" Duan Qirui and Xu Shuzheng were surprised at the same time, and stood up together. Duan Hongye said: "I just received a telegram from Wang Maoru, he said that the Northeast Army is a border army, and it is the important task of defending the border and defending the territorial integrity and national safety, not a warlord army that fights the world. Therefore, it was decided not to enter the customs, but occupied Luan County. Because Luan County was the territory of Cao Kun, the overseer of Zhili. Cao Kun sent a point to question, this is a message. Duan Qirui took two telegrams, one was Wang Maoru's withdrawal telegram, expressing his hope for domestic peace, and the other was Cao Kun's telegram to the Anhui Department asking for Luan County, Duan Qirui read the telegram, laughed and said to his subordinates: "Prepare wine, prepare wine, today Wang Maoru knows his own son, and he has been a smart person, which is worth celebrating in Daqing." Suddenly, he said angrily: "What do you mean by this Cao Er fool, now that the territory is in the hands of the Northeast Army, how can you ask us?" ”

Duan Hongye said: "Maybe it's because we borrowed Luan County from our direct family, but it was occupied by the Northeast Army, Cao Kun thought we lost it, so he asked us?" ”

Duan Qirui waved his hand and said, "It's not that simple. ”

Xu Shuzheng said: "Dugong, I can guess one or two." ”

"Speak."

Xu Shuzheng sneered: "Cao Kun is nothing more than coveting Meng Enyuan as vice president, Meng Enyuan has the support of Wang Maoru, and he has the general Wu Peifu, so he also wants to be the vice president." ”

Duan Qirui suddenly realized: "I see, Cao Er is a fool to be the president, and he is really a fool when he is in the government, which is ridiculous." Hongye, don't bother. ”

Xu Shuzheng hurriedly said: "Governor, no." Cao Dujun's move is ridiculous, but our army is newly defeated and needs to recuperate. Cao Kun just wants to be vice president, who said that a country can't have two vice presidents? Let's let Cao Kun also be the vice president. Duke, Wang Maoru supports Meng Enyuan as vice president, and Cao Kun, who is directly related to him, is also vice president. ”

Duan Qirui laughed out loud and said, "What a trick to lead the water to the east, and Zheng deserves to be a peerless national warrior." ”

Xu Shuzheng frowned and thought: "Duke, why does this Wang Maoru not allow the Northeast Border Army to go south?" ”

"What are you doing going south? Robbed the city of Beijing? After learning of the withdrawal of the Northeast Army, Duan Qirui sat down in a happy mood and said with a smile.

"This ......"

Duan Qirui said with a smile: "Wang Maoru is not in the Northeast, his subordinates robbed Beijing City, you say, what does he think?" What did his men think? ”

"What does the Duke mean is that Wang Maoru deliberately did not let his subordinates enter Beijing?"

Duan Qirui said: "If you have high merit and cover the master, you will suffer in vain, and no one will cause trouble in vain." ”

"Duke, it's better for you to see farther and solve my doubts." Xu Shuzheng said with a smile.

Duan Qirui shook his head and said with a smile: "Xu boy, you just talk nonsense, I'm afraid you already have the answer in your heart, don't slap the horse in my reluctance." ”

Xu Shuzheng smiled slightly and said: "The students think that Mao Ziping and Jiang Fangzhen dare not make a high contribution to the master, on the one hand, they are afraid of the Japanese and are afraid of offending the Japanese. From their small victory and retreat, it can be seen that these people are only stabilizing the northeast, and they do not dare to send a large army into the pass. The Japanese have tens of thousands of Kwantung troops in Kwantung, tens of thousands of Korean troops in Korea, and tens of thousands of intervention troops in Vladivostok. ”

Duan Qirui sighed, thinking in his heart that the left-behind troops of others had actually defeated the army he had carefully prepared, it was really helpless. Knowing this, he shouldn't have allowed Wang Maoru to concentrate on development in the first place. Now it's too late to clean him up, he looked at his wrinkled hands, and suddenly realized that he was also old, and Wang Maoru was like the sun rising in the east, should he retire?

At this time, he suddenly heard a report that the Japanese minister Kohata Yukichi asked to see him, Duan Qirui led Xu Shuzheng to hurriedly go out to meet the Japanese, I don't know what their plans are.

When Duan Qirui and Xu Shuzheng were discussing the shape of the shì, they suddenly heard someone report that the Japanese minister Kohata Youji asked to see him, Duan Qirui hurriedly walked out to greet him, Xu Shuzheng also followed behind, and the two were surprised to see Kohata Youji standing respectfully next to a short old man. Kohata Youji turned his head and introduced to Duan Qirui: "Duan Sang, this is the first chairman of the Manchurian Railway, the first commander of the Japanese Kwantung Army, and now the special adviser to the Japanese emperor, Goto Shinpei, Goto senior. ”

Duan Qirui hurriedly saluted and said, "Mr. Goto, hello, welcome to China." ”

Goto Shinpei carefully looked at this Chinese who was a head taller than himself, with a thin body and a haggard face, but with sharp eyes, this was the actual controller of the Chinese Beiyang government, Duan Qirui, the head of the Anhui line, in a northeastern dialect full of Liaodong accents: "Duan Sang, I have long admired the name of your temple." ”

"How dare you." Duan Qirui said with a smile, this little Japanese Northeast dialect is really interesting, more authentic than the Chinese, and the accent is thick, even if the Liaodong people come to listen, they will definitely not hear that this is said by the Japanese.

Goto Xinping looked at the rebellious middle-aged man beside Duan Qirui, and said with a smile: "This should be Xu Shuzheng, who is known as the Anhui think tank after studying in Japan, right?" ”

Xu Shuzheng hurriedly said: "The younger generation is exactly. ”

Goto Shinpei nodded and praised: "Sure enough, it's terrifying, the Anhui tiger general, the tiger general." ”

Xu Shuzheng hurriedly said modestly where and where, to be able to get Goto Shinpei's praise, Xu Shuzheng is still a little proud in his heart.

"You may be seated, you may be seated." Duan Qirui said with a smile, and after everyone sat down, Goto Shinpei said: "I have come this time to express my wish for peace between your ministry and the northeastern king Maorubu on behalf of the Japanese Empire. ”

Duan Qirui and Xu Shuzheng looked at each other, and had a plan in their hearts, it turned out that the Japanese didn't want war in China, and they were really good comrades and good friends. Xu Shuzheng said: "If Wang Mao disobeys the central government's order to resist and annex the three divisions of our intervention army without authorization, this is a treacherous move. ”

Goto Shinpei nodded and said, "Indeed, Wang Maoru is too domineering, which we don't like." Xu Shuzheng was happy, only to hear Goto Shinpei say again: "However, he has no ambition to enter the central government, and I think he is probably still in favor of peace." Wang Mao has some abilities, but his ambitions are not so big. I hope that the Empire of Japan will act as a mediator between the two sides, and that the two sides will live in peace, with the Great Wall as the boundary, and each will strike its own troops. ”

Duan Qirui said: "Can you guarantee that Wang Maoru's department will not go south?" ”

Goto Shinpei sneered in his heart, if you don't fight, how can we enter the northeast, but at this time, more than 100,000 Japanese troops are trapped in Russia and need the assistance of the Chinese, so naturally they will not say such things. So Goto Shinpei said: "There is a saying in China that brothers are outside the wall to resist their humiliation, and your side and the Northeast Army are really the same mother and the Beiyang military system, so why fight for life and death?" We cannot give 100% guarantees, but we can reach an agreement with you that if you are attacked by the Northeast Army, we can send troops directly to help. After helping you, our troops immediately withdrew and did not linger on Chinese soil. ”