C217 (1/2)
Not too long after, Jiang Jiao Long led the eighty soldiers on a run and arrived first. Jiang Jiao Long was also very domineering. He walked up to the soldiers and shouted, ”Surround them all!” The soldiers scattered with a run, quickly surrounding Deputy Xu and his soldiers. Deputy Xu was enraged: ”What are you doing? Are they using force!? ”
Jiang Jiao Long said, ”So what if we use force!” The two began to argue. Wang Zhanyuan was very afraid of fighting, so he went over to Jiang Jiao Long and stopped him. ”Don't cause any trouble, the old marshal is surrounded in the middle, and he has to think for his safety.” The Deputy Xu threatened again, ”If you don't get her out of the way, I'm going to attack!”
Wang Zhanyuan anxiously said: ”Don't be like this, don't be like this!” He then ordered the soldiers to withdraw half of the distance. Only then did Deputy Xu stop talking.
At this moment, he saw a cloud of dust billowing in the distance. Zhang Biao was leading another troop of cavalry soldiers as they rushed over to rescue him. Zhang Biao jumped down from his horse and stopped the convoy. He glared angrily at Zhang Xun as he passed by the group of Deputy Xu: ”Reporting to the Governor: The person has been brought over. Should we take care of them?! ” Zhang Xun said with a depressed look on his face, ”Forget it, forget it. ”Quickly return that person to them.”
Zhang Biao angrily rushed out of the crowd and came outside, pulling Yuan Keding down from the horse's collar, and brought him in front of Deputy Xu, and said: ”Here you go!” With all his might, he pushed Yuan Keding until he tumbled and fell to the ground.
Deputy Xu stared at Zhang Biao, and anxiously helped Yuan Keding up, releasing the bindings, and said: ”Eldest Young Master, I have let you suffer a grievance. This official has failed in his duties! ”
Yuan Keding lowered his head: ”This is not your fault. Blame myself for miscalculating. ” He had difficulty to speak, and thought: ”I was tricked by Yama Takashi. He said that Feng Guozhang would not come today. Otherwise, how could I let them catch me! ”
Deputy Xu saw that Yuan Keding was beaten black and blue, and shouted angrily: ”Eldest Young Master, what do we do now? Do you want to take revenge on them!? ” Yuan Keding said in a low voice: ”The strong dragons don't crush the snake. We have too few people, so we can't win against them.” Yuan Keding pointed at Zhang Xun again, gnashed his teeth, and scolded: ”Old fool, I won't forgive you!”
Zhang Biao looked at Zhang Xun and said, ”Regional Commander, please give the order for us to take care of them!” Zhang Xun only shook his head: ”Forget it, forget it. Let him curse. We lost face today. Tell them to hurry up. ”
Just then, De Sheng brought another hundred soldiers and rushed over. Zhang Xun was afraid that Yue Yang would cause trouble in front of him, hence he walked out of the circle to stop him. Unexpectedly, Yuan Keding said to the Deputy Xu: Capture this old fogey and let him send us out of Henan Province.
Deputy Xu stretched out his hand to grab Zhang Xun and said, ”Young Master has orders for you to send us out of Henan Province. Tell all your men to back off. ” Seeing that, De Sheng was furious, he stepped forward to snatch Zhang Xun back.
Zhang Xun anxiously said: ”Let me send them off!” Zhang Biao and De Sheng had no choice but to dodge the gap. The Deputy Xu held Zhang Xun, protecting Yuan Keding, and only then did the group leave.
Feng Guozhang quickly ordered his subordinates to quickly drive the carriage forward. When they arrived at the train station, Feng Guozhang hurriedly got on the carriage. Feng Guozhang ordered again: ”Drive!” The car immediately started up and sped away before it could get out of the station. Feng Guozhang returned to Nanjing safely. Returning back to the Nanjing Capital City Governor's Mansion, Feng Guozhang felt relieved. He touched his head and thanked Ru Feng profusely. He said: ”If it were not for Master saving me in time, I would not have survived. Thank you, thank you! ”
Ru Feng said: ”This is teacher Hong Fu Tian. This allowed Ru Feng to know of their scheme beforehand. No need to thank me, no need to thank me. ” It was so enjoyable that Feng Guozhang entertained Ru Feng with banquets all day long. There was no need to elaborate on the hospitality.
After two consecutive days, Feng Guozhang finally recovered from the shock. It was only then that he remembered to send a telegram to Zhang Xun informing him of his safety and inquire about Zhang Xun's safety. As soon as the words left his mouth, the staff officer took out the telegram from two days ago and said, ”Old Marshal, we have not dared to disturb your rest. The night you returned, I sent a safe telegraph message to the General of Zhang Xun. Zhang Du also returned to the Xuzhou safely. And here's a message from him asking after you. ”
Feng Guozhang said with relief: ”I misjudged Zhang Xun. Yuan Keding and the Japanese did not know about what happened to me. ” After saying that, he took the message and skimmed through it, throwing it to the side, and said: ”I'm really sorry, Zhang Xun.”
Wang Zhanyuan listened to how he kept blaming himself, and said, ”Old Marshal, you don't have to blame yourself. In the future, I will explain it to you in Xuzhou. This is a misunderstanding caused by the Eldest Young Master, Zhang Du Du will not blame you. This incident was something that only the Eldest Young Master knew how to do. The President is at the point of service, and he will not exonerate you. ”
Feng Guozhang nodded: ”This Japanese enemies is hateful! Intense and provocative. Yuan Keding, this beast, had almost done something. I can't help but have a lingering grudge! ”
Wang Zhanyuan intentionally pulled Duan Qirui down, and said: ”We cannot ignore another person in this matter. I expect he's involved. ”
Feng Guozhang immediately said: ”Are you saying that Duan Qirui played a role in this?” Wang Zhanyuan said: ”That's right. In the past, he had repeatedly weakened the armed forces in our area on the pretext of preventing rebellion in the south. Now, the Japanese and Yuan Keding have done even more for him. ” Feng Guozhang nodded in conviction.
Wang Zhanyuan continued: ”We cannot let Duan Qirui control the Li Li alone, if not, we will have to succeed in the Japanese plot. We also need to deploy our armed forces to control the Central Plains, and we can't let the Japanese gain power there. I intend to transfer a brigade from the south to Zhengzhou. Thus, Cao Kun, Wu Peifu and I ended up with Zhang Xun in the middle. Zhang Xun is a two-sided sect, so he can only lean towards us. Our power only surpasses Duan Qirui. ”
Feng Guozhang muttered to himself, ”What you say makes sense. We should control them and make Zhang Xun unable to turn around. However, Cai Songpo was organizing a rebellion in the south, and the frontline was for servants. It's hard for us to find an excuse to send troops back to Zhengzhou. Zhang Xun anxiously informed us to steal your territory, this is also very difficult. ”
Wang Zhanyuan laughed: ”How did the old marshal forget? Didn't the President urge us to move our troops into Zhengzhou? This time, we will use it as an excuse to go against the rules and seize Zhengzhou. If Zhang Xun denounces us to the President, we will say that the troops should go to Zhengzhou to take a short rest and deal with him. ” Feng Guozhang was overjoyed: ”This plan is good, it will be completed soon.”
Wang Zhanyuan said happily, and then said, ”Let's not overthink the matters of the south, and focus our attention on the Central Plains. Cai Songpo was outnumbered, he could not become someone powerful. Let them bluff in a corner. ”
After the two of them came to an agreement, they began analyzing the foreigners. Feng Guozhang said: ”Now that the West is at war, the United Kingdom and the United States have no time to look around. Japan wants to take this opportunity to monopolize China. ”His ambitions are not small.”