The Anti-Japanese War Begins with the Northeast Army

"Several groups of people have not even discussed whether to send troops, let alone who will send troops and how to send troops."

Seeing that Jiang Cheng had no intention of interrupting him, Xu Shuzheng continued to speak steadily, "For now, no matter which faction inside the Great Wall, no one wants to take the lead in sending out this force."

"After all, for all parties, Ungern, who was able to invade Chahar, was a powerful enemy - and as far as I know, after Ungern gained a foothold in Kulun, he sent out so-called invitations to the White Russian forces outside the Great Wall;"

"Because the Soviet Union has stabilized, they started to wipe out the White Army as early as last year... If these people unite and establish some kind of autonomy in Mongolia, their strength will far exceed everyone's expectations of them."

Jiang Cheng nodded with a smile: "Indeed, if we confront Enqin head-on at this time, we will not end up well."

"Not only is the number of their troops increasing, but another important factor is the terrain of Chahar."

Xu Shuzheng understood this better than Jiang Cheng——

After all, before the Zhi-An War, he personally led his troops to fight in Outer Mongolia.

"If we want to recapture Kulun and Mongolia, we must not only overcome the impact of the cold on our troops' operations, but we also have to deal with extremely long supply lines..."

"Master Jiang, I am not exaggerating. If we had not withdrawn troops to the northern border, the Zhi-An war... Mr. Wu might not have gained the upper hand!"

This time, it was Jiang Cheng's turn to raise his eyebrows meaningfully.

"Hahahaha, I knew it. You must be holding a grudge against Cao Saner and Wu Xiucai!"

He laughed a few times and patted the other's slightly trembling shoulders, his eyes showing a bit of domineering yet soothing gentleness, "If we drive away the White Army this time, stabilize Outer Mongolia, and take back Chahar and Suiyuan, huh, do you think we still have one less chance to deal with them?"

"Besides, the one who instigated the Mongolian and White armies this time...is our old friend."

Xu Shuzheng was stunned: "Japanese!?"

Although Jiang Cheng did not trust Xu Shuzheng that much, he tried his best to recruit him to the Jilin Army this time, just to make this "acquaintance" who had conquered Mongolia serve him better.

But he had never thought that Xu Shuzheng was not only much smarter than anyone he had dealt with so far, but also had such a clear view of the situation...

Most importantly, he seemed to be more "patriotic" than any other Beiyang warlord.

That's true. If he didn't have some kind of desire to defend his territory from the bottom of his heart, he probably wouldn't have conquered the northern border when the Zhi and Anhui factions were in confrontation.

"Xiao Xu, now I finally understand why your husband Duan admires you so much."

Jiang Cheng is never stingy with praise for his smart and capable subordinates.

He stretched out his right hand and patted his arm twice, gestured "please" to him, and led him to sit down at the table where refreshments had been prepared.

"In fact, you and I both know that whether it's me, the commander, or the people in the capital, we all want to take Mongolia back."

Jiang Cheng picked up the purple clay teapot from the table and poured him a cup of strong Kung Fu tea. He met his slightly frightened gaze and continued, "Let alone anything else, the recovery of Outer Mongolia has always been part of the Fengtian Army's plan."

"So, Xiao Xu, the Fengtian Army has not yet sent out troops. They are just waiting for the opportunity."

Xu Shuzheng nodded repeatedly. His mind became clearer and clearer: this 20-year-old warlord had a clear grasp of the situation.

"Yes, then please, Lord Commander, tell me what to do next."

Jiang Cheng looked at him.

In just a few seconds, he whispered, "I'm sure that the commander will make a decision soon. But during this time, Xiao Xu, I need you to enter the Jilin Army as the commander-in-chief of the Northern Expedition as soon as possible and start preparing for war!"

"Time is running out. I'll give the order early tomorrow morning!"

…………

In fact, there is nothing wrong with Jiang Cheng's speculation about the Marshal.

In fact, when the White Army invaded Kulun, the Marshal was a little worried about the expansion of the war, but he was also secretly happy inside.

It is easy to fish in troubled waters. It has been like this since ancient times.

From Mongolia to Chahar, the situation was in a mess. The Marshal suddenly realized that this was the opportunity to recover Mongolia and even Chahar and Suiyuan.

Mongolia must be fought, and I must be the one to fight it, but I have to wait for the right time!
Ever since the White Army captured Kulun and the small team sent by Zou Fen was surrounded and repelled, Marshal Zhang has been using the excuse that "the White Army is fierce" and ordered Zhang Zuoxiang to go to the capital to discuss the matter.

Later, there was no consensus, but the capital was already leaning towards the Fengtian Army to fight.

So the Marshal started a new round of bargaining, while secretly ordering the Jiang father and son to prepare for the expedition to Outer Mongolia.

Jiang Cheng was very happy and slapped his thigh with joy.

Rehe had great geographical advantages, and the White Army was naturally at a disadvantage against it. With Xu Shuzheng, who was very familiar with the environment, in command, he had great confidence in taking over Mongolia and Chahar and Suiyuan.

Seeing that the Fengtian and Zhili sides could not reach a consensus on the issue of conquering Mongolia, the capital had to hold a special meeting in Tianjin to discuss the issue.

At this time, under the repeated requests of Marshal Zhang, the capital agreed to allocate 3 million yuan as "exorcism fees". The Marshal believed that the time was ripe for the expedition to Mongolia, so he unexpectedly expressed at the meeting that he was "willing to personally lead the expedition to Mongolia."

Since he was willing to take the initiative, the Beijing government was naturally relieved. On August 1920, 8, Xu Shichang issued an order to appoint Zhang Yuting as the governor of Mengjiang, with the power to command and control the three special administrative regions of Rehe, Chahar and Suiyuan.

Inner Mongolia was originally composed of Rehe, Chahar and Suiyuan. Now, the Marshal conquered it in one fell swoop in the name of conquering Mongolia, which helped him solve one of his most troublesome problems.

If the northern expedition to Mongolia could succeed, then the plan to unify Manchuria and Mongolia would be accomplished, and he would be able to become the de facto "King of Manchuria and Mongolia" from the "King of the Northeast". Faced with this prospect, the Marshal was so happy that he almost woke up laughing in his dreams.

However, just when he ordered Rehe to prepare for war first, public opinion began to be led astray.

All major newspapers vied with each other to denounce the fall of Kulun and attributed the loss of the Fengtian Army to its failure to make all-out efforts to rescue the enemy. The Shanghai-based Shenbao also ridiculed the Fengtian Army as "a group of greedy, mean, cowardly soldiers who are barely worthy of the title... to call them military men is an exaggeration" and so on.

But even though newspapers across the country cursed the Marshal, the troops from Rehe to Jilin remained on hold.

Even Xu Shuzheng, who was recruited, was a little anxious. After two full months of training and preparation, the weather was starting to get colder, so why didn't the higher-ups give any information about going to war?
On the contrary, not only was there no order to go to war, but the Marshal ordered Ji Jinchun's troops to station in Suiyuan first, where they clashed with the local garrison. (End of this chapter)