Chapter 151: Aftermath (1)

  Lu Rongting surrendered and this news spread like lightning across the entire China

  Lu Rongting made this decision that would shame his military career in a situation where he was unable to advance or retreat, and had lost his defensive position. However, before formally surrendering, the old general who had been in the army for over 40 years insisted on meeting with his enemy Wang Zhenyu.

  Wang Zhenyu readily agreed to this request. In fact, he was also very pleased to meet Lu Rongting, a famous warlord of the Republic of China in history.

  The meeting place is in Baipeng Town, which is very close to the actual control line of both sides. Putting the meeting place here not only reflects Wang Zhenyu's attitude but also gives Lu Rongting face.

  As the defeated party, Lu Rongting and Mo Rongxin arrived at the meeting place half an hour earlier than scheduled. The guards responsible for the security of the venue were from the First Division's Xu Yuanquan's guard company. They carefully checked every participant. According to Wang Zhenyu's instructions, these Gui Xian soldiers could bring their pistols into the venue but not bullets. This was also a sign of respect for the defeated party. In fact, these Gui Xian soldiers were very grateful for this gesture. Many years later, in Lu Rongting's personal memoirs, there is a record of a very humane detail: "This is respect for an old soldier."

  Wang Zhanyu arrived at the venue wearing a blue marshal's uniform issued by the Nationalist government, riding a white horse. He was accompanied by Xu Yuanquan, commander of the First Division, Wan Yaohuang, chief of staff, Li Zongren, commander of the Third Division, and his inseparable secretary and fifth brother Wang Zhanbang.

  When young Wang Zhenyu took his first big step into the meeting room, the old Guijun generals, including Lu Lao Shuai, were deeply shocked by his youth. Especially for the defeated general Lu Rongting, the age of the victor in front of him was almost the same as that of his own son. Seeing him was like seeing himself in his glorious years under the command of Feng Lao Shuai. He really had grown old.

  "General Wang is indeed young and promising, Lü Mou lost without regret. Seeing your young generation, I realize that we old guys should have retired long ago. This is truly the Yangtze River's rear waves pushing forward the front waves! Not accepting old age is not allowed!" Lü Rongting couldn't help but sigh as he looked at Wang Zhenyu.

  Wang Zhenyu smiled and grasped Lu Rongting's hand, saying: "General Lu, your past is well-known to us younger generations. From the late Qing dynasty onwards, you and the gentlemen present have been actively fighting against French colonialists and defending our borders, making great contributions to our country and nation. Although we have had conflicts and frictions today due to differences in political views, General Lu, your historical achievements and those of the gentlemen present are not to be erased. It is an honor for me to meet you, a veteran contributor."

  After some warm greetings, everyone took their seats.

  As it was a surrender, Lu Rongting naturally had to speak first: "This time's Liu Zhou war was Lu Mou's own willful and arbitrary behavior, the officers and soldiers under his command were just following orders to fight, and it was inevitable that there would be deaths and injuries in the war. Now our army has decided to surrender to your honorable department, all past mistakes will be borne by Lu Mou this criminal, I hope General Wang and your honorable department's generals will not vent your anger on the lower-ranking officers and soldiers."

  Wang Zhenyu laughed and said: "General Lu is very caring towards his subordinates. Actually, this matter is not about being familiar with each other through fighting. You are just executing Beijing's orders, while we also hope for the country's peaceful development. In the end, our directions are consistent, but the paths we take are different. As for your officers and soldiers carrying guns and eating rations, they are just following orders. Let bygones be bygones. I just hope that in the future, everyone can continue to cooperate sincerely and jointly build Guangxi to benefit the people."

  In the end, both sides reached an agreement that more than 20,000 remaining Guangxi troops would hand over their weapons to the Hunan Army and wait for further arrangements.

  As for Lu Rongting, he retired as a lifetime honorary member of the Guangxi Provincial Assembly with his personal consent. The remaining officials handed over their troops and cooperated with the Xiangxi Army to complete the takeover of the existing territory before returning to their posts as provincial assembly members. This was already the bottom line that Wang Zhenyu could accept, and he did not completely eliminate these bandit-born leaders, which was a violation of traditional political struggle principles.

  At the last farewell, Lu Rongting still held Wang Zhenyu's hand and asked: "I'm also considered a government official now, so I'll call you General Wang, my nephew. What do you plan to do with these troops? If they are disbanded, I fear that in the future, there will be bandits everywhere. Our Guangxi land is poor and lacks resources, don't laugh at me, nephew. When I was disbanded before, I also became a bandit in the mountains, so this matter, you must give me an explanation."

  At this moment, Wang Zhenyu indeed felt Lu Rongting's sincerity. He also replied very humbly: "According to your age and military rank, your title of 'Xianzhi' is a blessing for me, Wang Zhenyu. From now on, I will respectfully call you 'Lu Shu'. As for the troops, please don't worry, Lu Shu. These people won't be laid off. They will be incorporated into a new army and will be responsible for transportation construction in Guangxi. I'll let you in on a secret: I plan to build a railway from Xiangxi to Liuzhou, then to Laibin, and eventually to Nanning if possible. The goal is to develop industry in Guangxi. Lu Shu, relying solely on agriculture will never make us rich."

  Lu Rongting listened and repeatedly praised, and Wang Zhenyu continued: "Our Xiangxi Army will not be a regional army in any way. You also saw that the commander of the Third Division next to me, Li Deneigh, is from Guilin, Guangxi. Therefore, building Guangxi, developing Guangxi, and benefiting the people of Guangxi are also things we must do. But I hope more young talents from Guangxi can come out and work with us towards this goal, especially your children, Uncle Lu. I hope they can take the lead and work with me, Wang Zhenyu, for tomorrow, for the country, and for the nation. Can you help me with this, Uncle?"

  Lu Rongting had never seen anyone as broad-minded as Wang Zhenyu. Everyone who came was motivated by self-interest, and in the current situation, it was already good that they didn't kick him while he was down. According to his own plan, since he had lost power, he and his family should just stay in Wuming and not do anything to offend the victors, lest they provoke trouble and be punished later. However, Wang Zhenyu's words earlier contained sincerity that moved Lu Rongting. With tears in his eyes, he said: "Alright, I, Lu Rongting, will go back and let my family members' children come out to work for you. The future of the Lu family will depend on you from now on."

  Lu Rongting's matter spread quickly, and even the mastermind behind the rebellion was let off lightly by Wang Zhenyu. Naturally, others were not a problem either. Under this atmosphere, the entire Gui army's surrender work became very smooth.

  A few days later, Song Xianfu, the commander of the Xiangxi Railway Corps, also brought a large number of railway corps officers to Liuzhou. According to Wang Zhenyu's intention, he will be stationed in the city of Liuzhou and serve as the commander of the Hunan-Guizhou Railway Construction Army Corps. The entire army is divided into three divisions: Xiangxi Division, Guibei Division, and Guinan Division. The railway construction projects are also being launched one after another. Currently, there are three plans:

  The first is to build a railway from Luyang to Fenghuang, Luyang to Yuanzhou and Xuzhou.

  The second is to build a railway from Tongdao to Liuzhou and Laibin.

  The third is the construction of the railway from Nanning to Laibin.

  As for the funding gap issue, Wang Zhenyu has planned to solve it through three aspects:

  Firstly, rush back to Anjiang and instruct the three major banks to issue currency within their respective jurisdictions, which can better control the economic development within their jurisdiction and solve some of the government's financial difficulties.

  Secondly, he borrowed money from Belgians and Luxembourgers using railways as collateral to obtain massive loans.

  The third and most difficult point is to carry out political and economic reforms in Guangxi and find a way to get money from this land of eight Guizhou.

  Wang Zhenyu's own analysis was that when he was in Hongjiang, he had managed to raise a total of 180 million yuan, and it should still be possible to raise two billion within the province.

  But how to operate this new plate in Guangxi? In this place where the folk customs and social conditions are more complex than Xiangxi, what kind of system should be used? Should we continue with the "county people govern county" model of Xiangxi or simply establish a military dictatorship here? But no matter how hard we try, we can't escape from Anjiang for the time being, and there's still a lot to do before we can implement it.

  Wang Zhenyu suddenly remembered that he really had many unresolved issues, and the most fatal one was that he hadn't successfully established a self-running management system within the Xiangxi Military Group in the past year. Big or small things still relied on his own decision-making, which was a very serious problem that needed to be solved as soon as possible. After dinner, he asked Wang Zhenbang to bring him a white paper and took out a Parker pen to start writing down the issues that needed to be resolved as soon as possible, one by one.

  The first thing to do is to make peace with the Beijing side as soon as possible. The second revolution has ended, and if I, a person standing in the revolutionary ranks, cannot quickly clear my name, the revolutionary party will come knocking on my door one after another, and by then I will be isolated to the end; Secondly, although I can arm 100,000 troops at once, it is fundamentally insufficient to defeat the powerful Northern Warlord forces, and at the same time, it will consume my foundation with the passage of time. Ten thousand mouths are not easy to feed.

  The second thing is that the political reform in Guangxi needs to be changed and how to move forward, this is a crucial issue. At first, I sent troops to Guangxi just for the iron of Liuzhou and the coal of Laibin, but after a stir, I accidentally took down all of Guangxi except for Shen Hongying's remnants who are still resisting. In this situation, the original plan can no longer keep up with the situation.

  The third thing is that the army needs to expand, the bank needs to issue currency, and these thousands of problems must be solved as soon as possible. According to Wang Zhenyu's thinking, every time a young man from Guangxi is recruited into the army, social stability in Guangxi increases by one point. Therefore, it is necessary to establish an 804 base in Liuzhou, an 805 base in Nanning, and an 806 base in Wuzhou as soon as possible. The existing military administrative departments also need to be upgraded and reformed, and cannot take on all sorts of messy tasks.

  Just then, Wang Chenhao, who had just been promoted to deputy officer of the rank of lieutenant colonel, knocked on the door and came in: "Reporting to the commander-in-chief, the chief of staff of the 3rd Division, Li Zongren, and the director of the general staff, Bai Chongxi, have brought with them the two Mr. Huang whom you specifically requested to see."

  "Oh, come on!" Wang Zhenyu suddenly felt that his mind had opened up because the key to governing Guangxi had arrived.