Chapter 312 311【Wrong Step】

In fact, there was indeed a golden opportunity for China to take back the Middle East Road, and that was 1919 when Soviet Russia was first established.

In order to gain China's approval and support, Lenin expressed his willingness to give up all the rights and interests he had seized in China during the Tsarist Russia period. By 1920, the Soviet Union issued the "Second Declaration on China", which reiterated the principles of the first declaration, and proposed the intention to jointly manage the Middle East Road with China.

However, the Soviet Union at that time was a scourge. The Beiyang government was afraid that after establishing diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, it would offend Britain, France, the United States and other powers, and ignored the two "good intentions" released by the Soviet Union.

At that time, Zhang Zuolin's strength was not enough, and he was busy playing tricks with Duan Qirui's central government externally, and was busy gathering power in the three eastern provinces internally. If he can spare his hand, he can directly regain the Middle East Road by force, and he will probably get Lenin's appreciation. Because the Russian troops and staff stationed on the Middle East Road at that time were all remnants of Tsarist Russia, and they belonged to the "white bandits" in the eyes of the Soviet government.

Only one year after the "Second Declaration on China", the Soviet Union basically quelled the domestic chaos and sent people to China for the third time. At this time, the Beiyang government was discouraged again. Under pressure, they could only establish diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, but Lenin's original promise turned his face and refused.

What a waste of a great opportunity!

The Soviet Union's control over the Middle East Road included, in addition to railways, telegraphs, telephones, mines, libraries, observatories, schools, etc.

At the beginning of the year, Zhang Xueliang ordered to take back the telephone rights on the Middle East Road. The Soviet Union actually acquiesced, and only demanded the repayment of millions of telephone installation fees.

Even two months ago, in order to deal with Feng Yuxiang, Chang Kaishen was afraid that Zhang Xueliang and Feng Yuxiang would join forces, and deliberately sent a secret message to Zhang Xueliang, saying: Feng Yuxiang organized the rebellion of the Party Defense and National Salvation Army, which was related to the Soviet consul in Harbin, intending to completely redefine the Northeast.

Such a low-level plan to sow discord, Zhang Xueliang actually believed it, or dare not believe it, because the Soviet Union did have various small tricks in the Northeast.

Zhang Xueliang took advantage of the opportunity to search the Soviet Consulate in Harbin, and arrested the consul general. A total of 39 Soviet officials and employees were arrested.

The Soviet Union actually did not want to fight the Northeast Army, because the First Five-Year Plan was being implemented in its country, and it could not afford it due to lack of money and food. Faced with Zhang Xueliang's provocation, the Soviet Union promised that as long as Zhang Xueliang released the arrested persons, the Soviet side was willing to return part of the authority of the Middle East Railway Bureau.

If it were Zhang Zuolin, he would have agreed so early!

Perhaps it was the goodwill released by the Soviet Union that Zhang Xueliang regarded as a sign of weakness, and he firmly believed that the Soviet Union was strong on the outside and on the inside. He does not want to take back the Middle East Road step by step, but intends to do it once and for all. As long as this is done, it will not only establish authority and power, but also alleviate the financial crisis in the Northeast, and better make friends with the Nanjing government and European and American powers.

In Beidaihe, Zhang Xueliang lived in Zhu's villa.

On July 10th, the Middle East Road incident broke out, and the Northeast Army forcibly took back various businesses on the Middle East Road.

It was already July 19 at this time. Although the conflict between the two sides lasted for more than a week, there was no real exchange of fire. The Soviet Union only sent troops to demolish key road and bridge facilities to stop the Northeast Army's attack speed and buy time for the Soviet Union to dispatch reinforcements.

Zhang Xueliang was enjoying the shade in the garden, when the adjutant Zhu Guangmu hurried over with a telegram: "Commander, there is an urgent call from Shenyang, I want you to return quickly!"

"What's the matter?" Zhang Xueliang asked.

Zhu Guangmu said with a serious expression: "Because of the incident on the Middle East Road, the Soviet Union announced the severance of diplomatic relations with China!"

Zhang Xueliang stood up abruptly: "It's so serious?"

Well, Zhang Xueliang is still taking chances, thinking that the Soviet Union is really strong from outside and dare not fight.

Zhang Xueliang took a look at the telegram and scolded angrily: "Chang Kaishen bastard!"

The telegram stated that the Soviet Union had announced the severance of diplomatic relations with China two days ago, and they learned this news through intelligence personnel in Tokyo...

It's ridiculous.

Such a major event, the Nanjing government did not notify Zhang Xueliang, but also need to get news from the Japanese.

Chang Kaishen's play was insidious enough, and he was determined to make Zhang Xueliang fight the Soviet Union, so he could spare time to deal with Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan.

Zhang Xueliang cursed Chang Kaishen 10,000 times in his heart, suppressed his anger and said, "Get ready to go back to Shenyang!"

At this moment, the adjutant Hu Ruoyu came to report: "Commander, Mr. Zhou sent someone to deliver a letter."

"Let him come over." Zhang Xueliang said.

Sun Yonghao was led to the garden by the adjutant, handed over a thick envelope and said: "Commander Zhang, sir asked me to tell you, don't be indecisive when doing big things."

Zhang Xueliang took the letter, nodded and said, "Go back and tell him, I will think about it carefully."

The adjutant sent Sun Yonghao away, and Zhang Xueliang began to read Zhou Hexuan's letter, which was 12 pages long.

In this long letter, Zhou Hexuan elaborated on the domestic situation in the Soviet Union, compared the power gap between the two sides, and listed their respective advantages and hidden dangers.

Finally, Zhou Hexuan made two suggestions to Zhang Xueliang:

First, there is still room for relaxation in the matter. The arrested Soviet personnel should be released immediately, and the enterprises on the Middle East Road in their hands should be used for peace negotiations. Judging from the domestic situation in the Soviet Union, the other party did not want to fight, and if they showed sincerity, the negotiation would be successful.

Second, if unwilling to negotiate. Then we must act quickly, and try to stabilize the war before the arrival of the Soviet reinforcements. We must not delay it again and again, and give the enemy an opportunity to take advantage of it. As long as they take the initiative on the battlefield and guard the favorable terrain, the Soviet Union will never be able to hold back. Because the Soviet Union lacked money to fight wars, and had to be on guard against Europe, and the Far East was far away, the Soviet Union could not maintain a large army for a long time. At that time, the other party will naturally compromise, and everything can be resolved on the truce negotiation table.

Historically, Zhang Xueliang took back the Middle East Road by force, but he was completely unprepared to fight back.

The front line asked for more troops, but Zhang Xueliang was unwilling to go to war with the Soviet Union, and refused to send troops on the pretext of lack of money. It wasn't until the Soviet Union's "Special Far Eastern Army" was assembled and marched to the Northeast that he realized that he couldn't do without fighting. He hurriedly issued a mobilization order for combat against the Soviet Union, but lost the opportunity in vain.

After Zhang Xueliang read Zhou Hexuan's letter, his indecisive character emerged again. He felt that the Soviet Union had already announced the severance of diplomatic relations with China, and the peace talks were absolutely impossible to succeed. If they wanted peace talks, the Northeast had to make concessions. This move would cause him a great loss of prestige, and he would not be able to restrain the militant soldiers under him.

But if he really wanted to fight the Soviet Union, Zhang Xueliang was unwilling. Because the Northeast is currently in financial difficulties, if a battle is fought, regardless of the outcome, it will suffer heavy losses, and it is impossible to recover within three to five years.

Zhang Xueliang was completely unable to make a decision, and even began to regret not listening to Zhou Hexuan's dissuasion, and took back the Middle East Road by force under impulse.

In this state of worrying about gains and losses, Zhang Xueliang returned to Shenyang by special train and called a meeting of his military, political and diplomatic personnel.

The young men of the Northeast Army are now gaining power, and most of them are clamoring for war, because only by fighting can they be promoted and get rich. Government officials were unwilling to fight, saying that the Northeast was in a state of waste, and the finances were stretched, so there was simply no money to go to war.

The diplomats were at odds. Some said peace talks should be made, some said they should ask Britain and the United States to stop it, and some said that the Soviets had nothing to fear.

The whole meeting scene was full of quarrels, Zhang Xueliang's head exploded, and his thoughts were more chaotic than before the meeting.

In the end, Zhang Xueliang decided to adopt Zhou Hexuan's suggestion. While sending a mission to find peace talks with the Soviet Union, he asked the front line to strengthen the defense, and allocated reinforcements to a main army.

If Zhou Hexuan knew about Zhang Xueliang's actions, he would probably vomit blood with anger.

Zhou Hexuan's suggestion was not like this at all. He asked Zhang Xueliang to choose, either show sincerity and negotiate, or concentrate on a thunderous blow.

And what is Zhang Xueliang doing?

On the one hand, he did not release the arrested Soviet personnel, and on the other hand, he did not return the enterprises on the East Road. He only wanted the Soviet Union to back down, and then took the opportunity to take back part of the rights on the East Road.

The Soviet Union has already announced the severance of diplomatic relations and sent a large army. Will they accept such insincere negotiations? This is not a negotiation at all, but an insult to the Soviet Union!

As for the military, Zhang Xueliang did not prepare for a big battle at all, and he did not dare to take the initiative to attack and seize the opportunity. He just passively added fuel to the defense.

Not only will this negotiation not succeed, but it will give the Soviet Union more time to increase its troops. However, the Northeast Army, which was fighting locally, was unprepared and hoped that the Soviets would back down.

Finally, at the end of July, the First Support Army of the Soviet Army arrived at the Sino-Soviet border, and crossed the border to occupy various traffic arteries one after another. The Northeast Army did not even dare to fight against the enemy, because the superiors did not issue combat orders.

By mid-August, the Soviet army occupied Oupu County.

In the traditional thinking of the Chinese, the occupation of the county seat means the loss of the city and land, and also means that the war is inevitable.

Zhang Xueliang finally issued a mobilization order to fight against the Soviet Union, and sent 60,000 troops to strengthen the national border.

What a fart!

All the major traffic routes along the border have been occupied by the Soviet Union, and their large troops have also arrived for reinforcements. Are you only thinking of issuing a mobilization order for combat now?

The most ridiculous thing is that although the Middle East Railway was taken back by force by Zhang Xueliang, the employees were mainly Soviets.

Now that the two countries are at war, the Soviet railway workers went on strike directly, causing the reinforcements of the Northeast Army to fail to arrive on time. What the hell is this called local warfare?

Chang Kaishen also ran out to fan the flames and issued a declaration of war against the Soviet Union in the name of the Chinese Nationalist Government, causing the war to escalate from a regional conflict to a national war.

By the beginning of September, the Soviet army had assembled 80,000 troops in the Northeast.

After the reinforcements arrived, the Soviet negotiators announced that the peace talks had broken down, believing that the Northeast side had no sincerity in negotiations, and decided to launch a fatal attack on the Northeast Army.

Before that, Zhang Xueliang only dared to increase his troops, but did not dare to take the initiative to attack the Soviet army across the border, so that more and more important military routes and strongholds were seized in vain.

The fierce battle finally broke out. The Soviet Union dispatched the navy, land and air force, and the Sino-Soviet navies even broke out in a naval battle.

With a powerful fleet, fierce cavalry, and a huge number of aircraft, tanks and artillery, Zhang Xueliang finally realized what the Great Soviet Red Army is.

Throughout October, the Northeast Army was defeated and retreated.

Zhang Xueliang found Zhou Hexuan's long letter again, and couldn't help feeling the urge to cry. He wrote to Zhou Hexuan: "I haven't listened to my virtuous brother, it's too late to regret..."

Zhang Xueliang wanted to ask Zhou Hexuan how to remedy it, but was informed by Zhang Leyi from Tianjin that Zhou Hexuan had already left for the United States by boat.