Beiyang reactionaries

"Brigade Commander Wang, please sit down."

Although Duan Qirui made Li Jishen the commander of the attack on Baoqing, Chen Fuchu and Wang Zhengya's troops of the Hunan Army were under Li Jishen's command.But everyone's troops are self-contained.

At most Li Jishen could command Wang Zhengya's troops, but he couldn't interfere with the internal affairs of his troops.In other words, if Chen Fuchu and Wang Zhengya were unwilling to cooperate with Li Jishen, Li Jishen would not have many options.

So we are still very polite to each other.Li Jishen was even more polite to Wang Zhengya.

"Commander Li, I'm sorry to bother you."

"No, no, no. It is a great honor for Brigadier Wang to come to me."

If it was just an ordinary brigade commander of the Hunan Army, Li Jishen might not have time to see them.With the great expansion of the national army in recent years, there are not many officers at the level of brigade commander.There are many brigade commanders in the Beiyang Army, and there are countless brigade commanders in the local army.Many regular brigade commanders and mixed brigade commanders of the Beiyang Army have thousands of troops under their command.However, there are some brigade commanders in the local army, and there are only 2000 people under their command, just called brigade commanders.

But the brigade commander Wang Zhengya is different from ordinary brigade commanders.

Not your average officer.Although Wang Zhengya is only the brigade commander of the mixed brigade, he was born as the guard envoy of Changli after all, and he is a brigade commander with his own territory.Just like when Duan Xun was in western Henan, he was a small local prince.

And he is also a little prince with deep qualifications.

"Brigade Commander Wang, I don't know why you came to see me today..."

"Commander Li, this time my Sixth Mixed Brigade also accepted the order to follow Commander Li and go south to attack Baoqing. However, although the Hubei Yasukuni Army's large troops were wiped out, there are still many small troops active. Lizhou is not safe either. I wonder if we can leave some troops in Lizhou to protect Lizhou."

Cooperation?

Wang Zhengya is no ordinary brigade commander, but an old fox who has been in the political arena for 20 years.Negotiating with Li Jishen, it is impossible to directly discuss cooperation.Many things have to turn a lot of corners.

And of course, Duan Xun had to say something about the cooperation, so that Wang Zhengya could take the initiative.So Wang Zhengya went around and talked about other issues first.

Li Jishen nodded, and said: "Brigade Commander Wang's words are very reasonable. Lizhou borders Yichang and Jingzhou, so it is indeed very easy to be harassed by the remnants of the Jinguo Army in Hubei. Brigadier Wang is very considerate and should stay Some troops protect the safety of Lizhou. Brigadier Wang is more thoughtful than I thought, otherwise everyone said that Brigadier Wang is both civil and military."

"Commander Li, are you going to promise me?"

"In principle, there is no problem."

Li Jishen nodded.

However, Li Jishen quickly smiled and said: "Brigade Commander Wang, you are so talented, it is a waste of your talent to only consider the affairs of Lizhou. If you can help us consider the affairs of the entire Xiangxi area, plan the entire The development of Xiangxi will be even better."

"The entire Xiangxi area?"

"Lizhou, Changde, Yongshun, Chenzhou, Yongsui, Fenghuang, Qianzhou, Yuanzhou, Baoqing, Jingzhou."

Every time Li Jishen mentioned a place, Wang Zhengya was weighing it in his heart.Because more than half of the places Li Jishen mentioned are currently under the control of Duan Xun's troops.There are other places, which must be Duan Xun's next goal.

If these places are all controlled by Duan Xun, then half of Hunan is really under Duan Xun's control.The entire western part of Hunan, from Lizhou and Changde to the most difficult Jingzhou, is under the control of Duan Xun.

That would be amazing.

"Commander Li, this seems to be beyond the scope of Xiangxi?"

Wang Zhengya spoke with a smile.

Li Ji nodded, but quickly said: "Yes. But our general said that these places are Xiangxi, so these places must be Xiangxi. But now our general is also having a headache. As the saying goes, it is easy to conquer the world, but difficult to dominate the world. Ours The troops entered Hunan to control these places, but it is not easy to govern these places. The most suitable candidate in our general's mind is Brigadier Wang."

"I?"

"Of course. In Hunan, whose experience in governing local areas can be compared with that of Brigadier Wang. Brigadier Wang is not only a general who leads troops, but also served as a county magistrate, Tongzhi, magistrate, and Guizhou inspector in the late Qing Dynasty. He served as the guard of Lizhou Since then, the stability and development of Lizhou have been witnessed by all. Great talents like Brigadier Wang only consider Lizhou, which is a loss for Hunan and a loss for China.”

Li Jishen's top hats are one after another.

If it was Yu Xuezhong and Wan Xuancai, they would not have the patience to rub their lips with others like this.Only a person like Li Jishen, who is good at leading troops and has a strong ability to play this kind of politics, can negotiate with Wang Zhengya.Originally, Deng Hanxiang was responsible for this matter, but Deng Hanxiang is now going south to discuss reorganization with the Yasukuni Army in western Hunan.That's why Li Jishen personally took care of Wang Zhengya's affairs.

"Then, General Duan means..."

"Our generals are thirsty for talents. Before I came, our generals sighed several times. If we can get talents like Brigadier Wang, tens of thousands of troops will be able to enter Hunan. Our general plans to establish the Xiangxi civil affairs chief in western Hunan. If Brigadier Wang is willing to take over the post, our general will be very happy."

The two seem to be talking nonsense, but they are actually negotiating.

Li Jishen was telling Duan Xun the conditions here.Although Wang Zhengya looked very calm, he was very surprised in his heart.Wang Zhengya really didn't expect that Duan Xun would give himself such a high position in order to win him over.

Of course, although it is regarded as a high priority, Wang Zhengya also considers it.

Because in this world, the army is everything.Only when there is an army in your hand can you speak loudly, and if you don’t have an army in your hand, you can’t fart loudly.At present, Wang Zhengya still has thousands of troops in his hands, so he can still speak.If his troops were reorganized by Duan Xun, he would have no leverage at that time.Maybe when Duan Xun finished reorganizing his troops, the position of the so-called Xiangxi civil affairs chief would change if he said he would change his mind.

So Wang Zhengya continued: "Commander Li, the governor of Hunan is Master Zhang (Zhang Jingyao) after all, will he admit that such a large area in Hunan is not under his control?"

Confuse?

There must be doubts.

Zhang Jingyao is the governor of Hunan. In Hunan, Zhang Jingyao should cover the sky with one hand.It is no problem for Duan Xun to control some places in Hunan.But Duan Xun controls half of Hunan, can Zhang Jingyao agree?Can Duan Qirui agree?

After all, there is no name.

If Duan Qirui ordered Duan Xun to evacuate from Hunan at that time, just like evacuating Changsha this time, what will he do as the civil affairs chief of Xiangxi?

"Zhang Jingyao?"

Li Jishen said Zhang Jingyao's name, with a mocking smile on his face, and said: "He Zhang Jingyao will never be compared with our general. Zhang Jingyao was the commander of the Seventh Division more than two years ago, and he is still the commander of the Seventh Division now. Although He is currently the governor of Hunan, but the only place he can control is Changsha. Our general was only a mixed brigade commander more than two years ago. Now? We have mobilized more than 4 troops in Hunan in this war. How can we Return empty-handed. As long as it is swallowed, we will never let it out. Zhang Jingyao can't help but control this."

Li Ji was full of confidence.

Wang Zhengya didn't know whether what Li Jishen said was right or wrong.But judging by Li Jishen's appearance, Duan Xun is sure to occupy half of Hunan this time.If so, how should I choose.

Seeing Wang Zhengya's hesitation, Li Jishen continued: "And as long as the troops of the French Guardian Army have not been completely wiped out, and as long as Wu Peifu's troops are still in Hunan, even Prime Minister Duan will not let our troops leave Hunan."

Compared with a lot of previous words, this sentence made Wang Zhengya agree.

Although Wang Zhengya has never had contact with Duan Qirui, Wang Zhengya has seen many of Duan Qirui's actions.Duan Qirui doesn't do many things like an actual controller of the government, because he can't always be fair.On the contrary, they discriminate against or reject other troops very much, and only value their own direct descendants.As long as Wu Peifu's army is still in Hunan, as Li Jishen said, Duan Qirui may be very worried.At that time, Duan Xun's troops will definitely continue to be stationed in Hunan.

"I heard that your son has read poetry and books since he was a child, and he grew up in a military camp. I think he is the seedling of an officer. With a little formal training, I think he can at least be qualified for the position of regimental commander."

Li Jishen immediately increased his bargaining chips because the position of a civil affairs chief in Xiangxi was not enough.

Wang Yuyin, Wang Zhengya's son, received a very good education since he was a child, and because he grew up in Wang Zhengya's military camp, he is very familiar with the military camp.Although he didn't have a regular position, he usually followed Wang Zhengya to lead the army to fight.That's why Li Jishen promised Wang Yuyin the position of head of the regiment.

"Commander Li, will Commander Li be the envoy of the Xiangxi army guard or the guard envoy of Xiangxi?"

"Not very likely."

Li Ji shrugged deeply, but quickly said: "Brigade Commander Wang, you are not familiar with the composition of our troops. Our general admired Li Huangpi's (Li Yuanhong's) idea of ​​dividing the army from the people, so unless there are special circumstances, our general Over there, most places strictly abide by the division of rule between the military and the people. The army cannot interfere with local government affairs, and of course the local government cannot interfere with the affairs of the army. Therefore, no matter who will serve as the guardian envoy of Xiangxi or the envoy of the Xiangxi army in the future, they will None of them have the right to interfere with the work of the Xiangxi Civil Affairs Chief. It is even possible that our generals will not set up such positions as Xiangxi Town Guard or Xiangxi Guard Envoy."

"There is no such position?"

"Yes."

Li Ji saw that Wang Zhengya didn't understand very well, so he explained with a smile: "Our general is currently promoting a reform plan. That is, the local warlord is only responsible for logistics, recruiting recruits, training recruits, commanding local troops, and no longer has any subordinates with the front-line combat troops. This kind of reform will be carried out in the three provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou soon. Therefore, even if the post of guard envoy or guard envoy is established in Xiangxi, the scope of jurisdiction is only these. Therefore, it is possible for me to serve as guard envoy and guard envoy Not big."