Li Shengda was originally under the Taiyuan Pacification Office. After he arrived in northern Shaanxi, he took office as the commander-in-chief of the Northwest bandit suppression due to the support of Chiang Kai-shek. To a certain extent, he was out of control of the Taiyuan Pacification Office. This is also the reason why Li Shengda dared to rebel against Yan Xishan's will.

However, with the defeat in this battle, especially Li Shengda and other troops, under the coercion of the People's Army, put down their weapons to cross the river to survive, which caused all the halos on Li Shengda's head to peel off. Since Chiang Kai-shek asked these defeated generals to be controlled by the Taiyuan Pacification Office, Yan Xishan must do it well.

Xu Yongchang, who had discussed with Yan Xishan to deal with the situation in Shanxi on the 26th to deal with the situation in Shanxi, even Yang Aiyuan was hesitant. After all, Yan Xishan did this, the traces of revenge were too obvious.

"Chichen, Xingru, I don't deny that I hate Li Shengda. If he had not been the commander-in-chief of the bandit suppression, he would have been drained from Shanxi, and there would have been no loss in the northwest of Shanxi. However, this is not the reason why I want to seize him." Yan Xishan admitted frankly, "I seized him because of his survival. I ordered more than 20,000 soldiers to disarm the "civilian bandits" for more than a month, and then made a decision to lose the opportunity to cross the river. Finally, I survived and ordered the troops to disarm. The actions were not of military integrity, which was in a military state, and set an extremely bad precedent. If such behavior is not severely punished and fight against the "civilian bandits" in the future, will the troops be killed by disarming? Such a commander, such a force really shames the elders of the Three Jin Dynasties."

Although Yan Xishan said it was righteous, Xu and Yang had been with him for many years and knew that he could not let go of the grudges he had with Li Shengda. However, what Yan Xishan said was not wrong. If such a bad precedent was set, then the troops that entered the People's Army to suppress the People's Army would definitely not fight to the fullest. From this, it is inferred that the domestic bandit suppression operations are still like this, what if there is another national war in the future? If the troops from the Jinsui faction disarmed the enemy during the national war, then everyone would really not be able to raise their heads.

"Mr. Yan, then I'll go there." Yang Aiyuan nodded and responded.

Seeing that Xu Yongchang wanted to speak but stopped, Yan Xishan thought he wanted to plead for Li Shengda, so he said again: "Chichen, don't worry, I will report to the Central Committee for Li Shengda's affairs to the Central Committee, and I will never take revenge with private matters."

"I naturally trust Mr. Yan's behavior, and what I want to say is not Li Shengda's business." Xu Yongchang asked helplessly, "Americans and Germans have already given a note to Nanjing to ensure the safety of citizens of both countries. Nanjing also cares that we must properly handle the matter of the detained foreigners of Huamei Company. Now we cannot fight, so how should we deal with the People's Army that occupy northwest Shanxi?"

"Nanjing has not responded so far, so we can't express our opinions. We can only let it go first." Yan Xishan was also helpless.

After learning on the 24th that there were changes in several counties in northwestern Shanxi, Yan Xishan was preparing to mobilize a large army to be launched on the 25th. However, before the troops set off, Wales, the manager of the Taiyuan Branch of Huamei, rushed over. Wales claimed that he received a telegram from Schmidt, the manager of Huamei Baode Industrial Zone, saying that the People's Army had taken more than 2,000 Americans and more than 400 Germans as hostages. If an army dared to attack northwestern Shanxi, the safety of all hostages would not be guaranteed. In order to show that all foreigners were not abused, the People's Army had released Schmidt, and he was rushing to Taiyuan with the conditions set by the People's Army.

After listening to Wales's related situation, Yan Xishan felt a little overwhelmed. If he didn't listen, it would be annoying to cause diplomatic disputes. If he listened, he forced the People's Army to occupy northwest Shanxi and snatch the ripe fruits and was really unwilling to accept it. In the end, Yan Xishan decided to send troops to deploy defenses on the periphery of nine counties in northwest Shanxi to avoid further expansion. As for when and how to fight, the troops were waiting for orders. So, Wang Jingguo and Kong Lingheng's troops transferred from the north of Ningxia, Zhao Chengshou's troops transferred from the set, Sun Chu's troops transferred from Datong, Yang Chengyuan's troops transferred from the 69th Division of the 33rd Army, and Yang Yaofang's troops of the 71st Division of the 34th Army, totaling 5 divisions and one cavalry army was deployed around the northwest Shanxi.

After driving to Taiyuan on the afternoon of the 25th and meeting Yan Xishan, Schmidt presented the conditions for the People's Army to be detained:

1. The People's Army can evacuate the three counties of Shilou, Yonghe and Daning in western Shanxi to show sincerity, but the nine counties in northwest Shanxi will never evacuate.

2. As long as the Jinsui troops will no longer attack the People's Army's defense zone in the future, the People's Army will ensure that they will adhere to the existing borders and will not expand.

3. As long as it is an equal and legitimate business, it is protected by the People's Army; the Chinese and American industries can continue to develop in northwest Shanxi; if Shanxi is willing, they can also conduct legitimate business transactions with corresponding institutions.

4. If the first three articles are acceptable, the People's Army and Shanxi may negotiate on specific matters such as material transactions, dispatched personnel, and tax collection.

5. After the state of war is lifted, all foreigners in northwestern Shanxi can voluntarily decide to stay or stay based on their voluntary decision.

6. All the people in the northwest Shanxi, as long as they are not extremely angry and have blood debts, can ensure their personal safety.

7. During the war period, if a Jinsui or other troops attack the People's Army's defense zone, the safety of all foreigners in the area will no longer be guaranteed by the People's Army; all consequences will be borne by the attacking party.

After reading the 7 contents listed by the People's Army and learning that foreigners have not been abused at the moment, they comforted Schmidt with kind words. When Xu Yongchang and Yang Aiyuan breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the dawn of negotiations, Yan Xishan couldn't help but sigh: "The loss is big, the loss is big."

"Mr. Yan, this People's Army seems to have the sincerity to reconcile. It's just a little loss, but it's not better than a little benefit, right?" Yang Aiyuan was a little puzzled.

"You don't understand." Yan Xishan glanced at Yang Aiyuan with anger and said, "If this People's Army is not in Shanxi, then the entire Shanxi area will be under the control of the government, and the tax revenue of the Chinese and American industries will also be owned by Shanxi. But now, not only are the 12 counties out of the control of the government, but taxes will also lose a large amount. More importantly, Shanxi will probably be in peace in the future."

In Yang Aiyuan's view, the Chinese-American industry is not from the Shanxi government. Since the People's Army agrees to negotiate taxes, at least it can gain something, right? It is already very good that the robbers can return part of what they have stolen. However, Yan Xishan believes that if the People's Army had not intervened, the benefits brought by the Chinese-American industry would be exclusive to Shanxi. You can't just give in to the robbers and get their favors out of it. This is the difference in their understanding.

"This condition is not easy to accept." Xu Yongchang sighed after careful consideration, "Once we accept it, we may not be able to get rid of the charge of "responsible bandits."

"I don't want to accept it either." Yan Xishan spread his hands, "But Americans and Germans are all in the hands of the 'civil bandits'. We must solve it by force, which will cause diplomatic disputes. Besides, even if we don't accept it, the production of the Huamei industry will not stop. The result will inevitably be that all the cheap 'civil bandits' will be cheaper. Moreover, according to the original plan, Northwest Industrial Company still has a lot of equipment and raw materials to rely on the Huamei industry."

Since Huamei Company started its industry in Baode, it has continuously transported all kinds of materials from abroad to Shanxi in recent years. Some of them are used in highways and railway construction, some are used in industrial establishment, but a considerable amount of them are stored as raw materials in various warehouses in Huamei. Even if the external blockade is it, the Huamei industry can ensure normal production with the materials accumulated before and the raw materials that can be obtained from the area controlled by the People's Army. In this way, if the conditions of the People's Army are really not accepted, all the benefits will be obtained by the People's Army.

Considering the gap between the conditions for the People's Army's establishment and its own position, although Yan Xishan was a little moved, he still did not dare to make a statement easily. After reporting the relevant situation to Nanjing, the matter was put on hold for the time being.

However, Yan Xishan's Shanxi Sui army stopped outside northwest Shanxi because they were afraid of being attacked. After Zhou Mingyuan crossed the river and deployed it in place, he stepped up the construction of various fortifications using Huamei Company's construction machinery. Even in Jingyou, at the junction of Yunzhongshan and Luliangshan, the construction project began to be built in the Loufan area. According to Zhou Mingyuan's plan, the Fenhe Reservoir will be built using concrete gravity dam technology. This not only is it more than 20 years ahead of the Fenhe Reservoir in history, but also turns the earth dam in history into a solid reinforced concrete gravity dam.

Seeing the People's Army unscrupulously carrying out engineering construction under its own surveillance, the soldiers of the Jinsui Group felt uncomfortable. Especially when they saw some big-nosed foreigners who either operate machinery to participate in construction or point fingers on the construction site, the officers and soldiers outside the northwest Shanxi were even more unhappy.

"What's this damn thing? We are restrained by foreigners when suppressing bandits, but these big noses colluded with the "people bandits" and were talking and laughing? Even the people in the province are helping with the construction?" Zhao Chengshou couldn't help but cursed between Shenchi and Ningwu, watching the ongoing fortifications of the People's Army through a telescope.

Wang Jingguo, who was on the side, patted Zhao Chengshou on the shoulder and comforted him: "Brother, what can I do? If Nanjing does not express his opinion, Yan Gong can only let us stop the army. Let's bear it."

However, when Li Shengda and others were detained in Lin County, Yang Aiyuan, who was rushing back to Taiyuan from Lishi, Fenyang, and Jiaocheng, heard Yang Yaofang report near Jiaocheng that the "banish bandits" were building a large-scale construction on the Fen River. It seemed that they were about to build a reservoir, and they were very surprised.

After following Yang Yaofang to the near-construction site, Yang Aiyuan was worried. Taiyuan was not far from the Fen River. If this reservoir was built, it would be equivalent to the People's Army having a weapon that could grasp Taiyuan without using weapons during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. Zhibo once flooded Jinyang. Although Jinyang was only a famous name with Taiyuan, it was impossible to prevent the People's Army from flooding Taiyuan. The problem of the People's Army must be solved as soon as possible. The more it drags backward, the more it will be detrimental to Shanxi.

Before Yang Aiyuan rushed back to Taiyuan, Yan Xishan had already learned about the People's Army's construction. When he heard Yang Aiyuan, who had seen the People's Army perform on the Fen River, he became nervous. Water and fire were ruthless, and Taiyuan was in the Jinzhong Valley. If the People's Army used water to attack again in summer, then Taiyuan and surrounding areas must be established. The People's Army built fortifications along the Great Wall, Guancen Mountain, and Yunzhong Mountain. If the People's Army took root in Shanxi, I'm afraid the hard days in the future will not be ignored.

Thinking about the advantages and disadvantages, Yan Xishan urgently sent a telegram to Lao Chiang, claiming that "it is a war or a negotiation. I hope the central government will make a decision early if it is not restricted and allow the "people bandits" to take action. With the advancement step by step, I am afraid that in the years, all the Jin and provinces will be in the hands of the "people bandits"."

At first, Chiang Kai-shek thought Yan Xishan was an alarmist statement, but then he learned that the People's Army had built a large-scale construction project, especially the construction of a reservoir in the upper reaches of the Fen River, which might flood Taiyuan. After 6 days of stalemate, Chiang Kai-shek agreed to negotiate with the People's Army on December 30. However, Chiang Kai-shek also added several restrictions: First, the negotiations were limited to the local governments in Shanxi, preferably in a civil form; second, the settlement of the hostage issue was given priority in the negotiations; third, the limit of "civil bandits" to nine counties in northwest Shanxi is the bottom line of this negotiation, and the "civil bandits" must not be allowed to expand to other areas in North China; fourth, try to mobilize the Chinese and American industries to be moved out or closed...
Chapter completed!