Did he trick the young marshal into becoming sworn brothers and then go south to Huangpu Military Ac

The door was flung open, and a dozen fierce-looking guards rushed in, guns at the ready.

When Chief of Staff Liu Wei saw that someone was about to die, he was startled and quickly stepped forward to grab Guo Songling's sleeve, advising, "Commander! Calm down! Governor Jiang is a very senior figure in the army, with many protégés and former subordinates. Just lock him up, you absolutely mustn't kill him!"

"Anyone who dares to plead for him will be punished as an accomplice!"

Guo Songling shoved Liu Wei aside, pointed at Jiang Dengxuan who was still cursing, and said in a voice as cold as ice, "Drag him out and shoot him in the backyard! Put his body in a sack and throw it into the Luan River to feed the turtles!"

Several guards rushed forward, gagged Jiang Dengxuan, twisted his arms behind his back, and dragged him out of the hall.

Less than two minutes later, several muffled gunshots rang out from the backyard.

Jiang Dengxuan never believed until his death that Guo Songling dared to kill him. If he had known, he would never have willingly walked into the trap to die.

Gunshots rang out, and the hall fell into a deathly silence.

Liu Wei and the other brigade commanders present looked at Guo Songling, who was sitting in a grand chair and breathing heavily, and none of them dared to make a sound.

Jiang Dengxuan's death was like a bucket of ice water poured over the heads of many officers.

Previously, they thought it was just a matter of armed coup and purging the emperor's inner circle, but now even a great general like Jiang Dengxuan has been killed and his body thrown into the Luan River, completely cutting off everyone's escape route. Many officers felt a chill and fear for the first time when they looked at Guo Songling, who was in a bloodthirsty rage.

……

News of the Luanzhou mutiny, the assassination of Jiang Dengxuan, and the Fengtian Army's elite troops turning back to attack Shanhaiguan spread throughout the country via radio waves.

Guangzhou, Ishii Arsenal.

In the factory manager's office, Lin Qi, wearing a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, was leaning over a large drawing board, holding a compass and pencil, drawing a cross-sectional diagram of the hydraulic recoil mechanism of a 105mm howitzer on tracing paper.

There was a knock on the door, and the adjutant on duty at the Grand Marshal's Mansion rushed in, sweating profusely: "Vice Principal Lin! There's an emergency meeting at the Grand Marshal's Mansion. Lord Wang, Lord Hu, and Principal Chang are all waiting in the conference room. Please come immediately!"

Lin Qi put down his pencil, glanced at his watch, picked up the Zhongshan suit draped over the back of his chair, and got into a car to head to the Grand Marshal's Mansion.

In the conference room, the fans whirred overhead.

When Lin Qi pushed open the door and walked in, the atmosphere inside the room was somewhat strange.

On both sides of the long conference table, all the civil officials from the Wang and Hu families were present.

Normally, these people would look gloomy or argue heatedly during meetings, but today, Madam Wang and Madam Hu had barely suppressed smiles on their faces, and their eyes were fixed on Lin Qi as he entered the room, as if they were watching a show.

Lin Qi pulled out the last chair, sat down, and took a sip of the cold tea in front of him.

"Smack."

Wang closed her ivory folding fan, leaned forward, looked at Lin Qi, and said in a drawn-out tone, "Tuozhi, the reason I brought you back from the arsenal today is because of an extremely urgent matter from the north. Your sworn brother Zhang Hanqing up north is probably going to be in big trouble this time, a really bad one!"

Hu, holding her teacup, adjusted her glasses and continued the conversation with a cold laugh: "Indeed. Tuozhi always uses the Fengtian Army as an ally. A few days ago in Beiping and Shanghai, he relied heavily on that young marshal's influence. It's just a pity, though. Zhang Hanqing's most trusted mentor, Guo Songling, the deputy commander of the Third Army Corps, killed Jiang Dengxuan in Luanzhou yesterday and led the most elite Fengtian Army forces in rebellion!"

A murmur arose in the conference room.

Wang and Hu looked at Lin Qi with nothing but schadenfreude in their eyes.

For the past six months, Lin Qi has been able to act so arrogantly in Guangzhou not only because he controlled the Whampoa Military Academy and the arsenal, but also largely because he had become sworn brothers with the young marshal of the Fengtian clique, forming a united front between the north and south, and even the Beiyang clique had to give him some face.

Now, the Fengtian Army has just been decimated by Sun Chuanfang in Jiangnan, and the most capable Third Army, led by Guo Songling, has turned against them and is heading straight for Fengtian's stronghold!

In the eyes of Wang Jingwei and Hu Jintao, Zhang Zuolin and his son Zhang Hanqing were doomed to die this time, and the Fengtian clique was about to collapse.

Lin Qi's biggest backer and external support in the north has collapsed. Let's see how he can still dominate his base camp in the future!

However, Lin Qi sat in his chair and listened to their sarcastic remarks without even lifting his eyelids. He neither slammed his fist on the table nor showed the slightest panic. He quietly stroked his teacup with his hand and didn't say a word.

Seeing that Lin Qi remained silent, Madam Wang assumed that he was stunned by this bolt from the blue, or that he simply refused to believe it.

Wang stood up, smugly grabbing the telegram from the table and slamming it in front of Lin Qi: "Tuozhi, don't you believe me! This is a nationwide telegram our radio station just received! It's written clearly in black and white: Guo Songling has renamed his troops the Northeast National Army, demanding Zhang Zuolin's immediate resignation, under the banner of 'purging the court of corrupt officials, executing Yang Yuting, and installing Zhang Hanqing.' His vanguard has already crossed the Shanhaiguan Pass! Your sworn brother is now in a precarious position, barely able to save himself!"

Lin Qi lowered his gaze and glanced at the telegram on the table.

[Demand Zhang Zuolin step down, purge the court of corrupt officials including Yang Yuting, and install Zhang Hanqing as the new ruler of Northeast China].

Looking at these few lines of text, Lin Qi felt no emotion whatsoever; in fact, he almost wanted to laugh.

Guo Songling would rebel; he had warned his brothers about this more than once last year.

A few days ago in Shanghai, Zhang Zuolin signed a contract with the Japanese for 10 million yen, selling his railway and mining rights in Northeast China. Zhang Hanqing was desperate and had nowhere to turn.

He himself pointed out that "his uncle is old," implying that "a loss may turn out to be a blessing in disguise," suggesting that he would take advantage of a crisis and a desperate situation to bring the old man down, reshuffle the old Fengtian clique, and take over the entire Northeast.

Looking at the timing and content of this telegram, Zhang Hanqing not only followed Zhang Zuolin back to Fengtian ahead of time to avoid the brunt of Guo Songling's hostage situation in Luanzhou, but also went along with the flow to let Guo Songling raise the banner of "cleansing the emperor's inner circle and supporting the young marshal".

Clearly, Zhang Hanqing had taken his words to heart and had already laid a trap outside the Great Wall, just waiting for Guo Songling to help him clean up the rotten flesh in Fengtian City.

The northern chess player landed his moves precisely on the board.

Now you don't have to do anything, you can just sit in Guangzhou and wait to watch the show.

Wang leaned on the table, watching Lin Qi, waiting to see him either lose his composure or try to save face in a pathetic manner.

"Sizzle..."

The chair legs scraped against the ground, making a soft sound.

Lin Qi pushed the chair back and stood up.

He didn't even touch the telegrams on the table. He turned his head and gave Wang and Hu a cold glance, his tone flat and without any fluctuation:

"You called me back from the arsenal in such a hurry for a meeting today, just for this little thing?"

The smile on Madam Wang's face froze: "This...this is a catastrophe..."

"If there's nothing else, I'll head back now. There are still a few blueprints waiting to be drawn in the workshop."

After Lin Qi finished speaking, he ignored everyone, turned around, strode straight to the door, opened it, and walked out.

The sound of leather shoes stepping on the corridor floor gradually faded into the distance.

The conference room fell into a deathly silence.

Wang stood frozen in place, holding a folding fan in her hand, her mouth half-open.

Mrs. Hu took off her glasses and stared wide-eyed at the empty doorway.

Even Chang, who had remained silent until now, frowned and looked utterly astonished.

At the same time, a question mark popped into everyone's mind that they couldn't understand.

Wasn't Zhang Hanqing the sworn brother of Lin Tuozhi, the one with whom he would exchange his life for the machine gun on Nanjing Road, the one with whom he would cut off a chicken's head and burn yellow paper?

Now that the main force of the Fengtian clique has rebelled, the sky outside the Great Wall is about to collapse, so why would Lin Tuozhi react this way?

How could they be so indifferent?!

P.S.: Chapter 2 is here, and there will be another chapter at noon.

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