Warlords: Rising from the Northwest Border and Sweeping Across the Powers

Chapter 275 Internal Division and Appeasement Policy

"The Northern Frontier Government, Governor An Chengjie of Quzhou! An Chengjie is hereby appointed as one of the new members of the Northern Frontier Congress. Congratulations, Congressman An. Here is your official letter of appointment and the exclusive medal for members of Congress!"

An Chengjie looked excited. He stood up and walked to the podium. He took the letter of appointment and medal handed to him by Duan Jinshu and said with a trembling voice: "Thank you for the trust of the central government and the cultivation of the president. I, An Chengjie, am willing to lead the entire Quzhou Army and be loyal to the Northern Xinjiang government! I will sacrifice my life for the future of Northern Xinjiang!"

Behind the conference table below, Ma Changfang was slightly startled. The development of events seemed to be different from what he expected. Logically speaking, Yang Jiakai, who was wholeheartedly paving the way for his son-in-law, should have been on guard against them and restricted them when he knew that he had formed an alliance with An Chengjie, Qian Haodong and others with the intention of targeting Su Zhengyang. Why did he suddenly do the opposite and promote An Chengjie to be a member of Congress?

Not to mention Ma Changfang's astonishment at this moment, the Governor of Hanzhou and Congressman Wang Jin, who was sitting not far from Ma Changfang, was also dumbfounded. He had already told Su Zhengyang about the collusion between Ma Changfang and An Chengjie and others, so why didn't the presidential faction only not target An Chengjie, but instead entrusted him with an important task?

Back to two hours ago, Su Zhengyang, Yang Jiakai, Duan Jinshu, Feng Changan and others held a small meeting in the president's office.

At the meeting, Duan Jinshu pointed out that Northern Xinjiang was in a state of disrepair after the war. If civil war broke out again in the short term, it would be an unbearable blow to the entire Northern Xinjiang government. Duan Jinshu calculated the huge impact of this civil war on the economy, population, and other aspects of the major provinces under the jurisdiction of Northern Xinjiang. The naked and intuitive data was simply shocking.

After a series of deliberations, they finally decided to adopt a conciliatory policy temporarily and allocate two seats of the congressmen to the so-called anti-Soviet alliance in order to divide them from within. You know, the indirect influence and wealth brought by the congressmen are immeasurable. For An Chengjie, even if he can't get any money, as long as he becomes one of the new congressmen, it will be worth the trip.

There is no need to get involved with Ma Changfang and become irreconcilable with Su Zhengyang and Yang Jiakai for a little bit of benefit.

Of course, although after discussion, Duan Jinshu formally appointed An Chengjie as the new member of parliament at the meeting, in reality, it was in name only. A series of benefits that the members of parliament could obtain would be delayed and not delivered. For example, the province where the member of parliament was located could pay 40% or 60% of taxes to the central government each year. Normally, the governors of each province usually paid 70%, but now they only need to pay 60%.

Don't underestimate this 10% tax. Over the years, it will be no small amount.

Next, those who were appointed as new members of Congress were Yunzhou Governor Yan Baoguo, Suzhou Governor Yang Jianjun, and Lizhou Governor Qian Haodong. After this series of operations, Ma Changfang's so-called anti-Soviet alliance had fallen apart before it even officially took effect. Qian Haodong and An Chengjie gained tangible benefits, and there was no need for them to get involved with them anymore.

This move of internal division directly thwarted Fuso and Ma Changfang's plan to deliberately stir up civil unrest in the northern border again.

After the announcement of the four new members of Congress, the meeting really got down to business.

"Ganzhou and Yongzhou, which were formerly occupied by the Han and Zhao rebels, will be assigned to Governor-General Su Zhengyang. Over the past year or so, Linzhou has become the fastest-growing region in the entire northern border, known as a paradise for merchants and ordinary people. I believe everyone has seen Governor-General Su's achievements in governing Linzhou. These two provinces will be assigned to Governor-General Su. From today on, Su Zhengyang will be officially appointed as the Governor-General of Linzhou, Gansu, and Yongzhou in the northwest. If you have any opinions, feel free to raise them."

Everyone present looked at each other in bewilderment. Feng Changan, Yan Baoguo, Jiang Yanlin and other people from the president's faction naturally would not express any objections. The Houzhou Liang faction and the Kuanzhou Li faction had the smallest territory and the weakest strength, so they had no right to speak. The only one who could stand up and express opposition and had enough weight was the so-called anti-Soviet alliance led by Ma Changfang.

But to Ma Changfang's surprise, after Qian Haodong discussed with An Chengjie, he was the first to express his support for Su Zhengyang to become the governor-general of the three provinces. This made Ma Changfang very angry. Su Zhengyang smiled secretly in his heart and looked at Duan Jinshu with a confident smile on his face.

As expected, the old ones are the most experienced. After giving Qian Haodong and An Chengjie the official status of members of Congress, the two will naturally reciprocate. In the subsequent division of territory and interests, I believe that these two will not stand up and sing a different tune. After all, they are still immersed in the great joy of becoming members of Northern Frontier Congress.

As expected, when Yang Jiakai announced the appointment of Zhang Luanyu as the governor of Jiangbei Province, Ma Changfang and Qu Guowei were the first to jump out to oppose it. However, without the support of An Chengjie and Qian Haodong, they were alone and powerless. In the end, they could only reluctantly accept the fact that Jiangbei fell indirectly into Su Zhengyang's hands.

In Mingzhou and Dongzhou, Yang Jiakai distributed the control of part of the territory to Yang Jianjun, Wang Jin, and the Lin family of Suzhou. This made Ma Changfang and Qu Guowei very angry. It turned out that everyone got the benefits, but they were the only ones who were not well treated and did not get even a penny of the profit.

At this time, Yang Jiakai also gave certain compensation. The Kuanzhou Li faction, Houzhou Liang faction, Huzhou Qu faction, and Xiazhou Ma faction, although they sent troops to target the rebellious fence-sitters only after the situation became clear, but these days, as long as large-scale military mobilization is carried out, it will be accompanied by a huge consumption of oceans. Yang Jiakai gave different compensations in oceans according to the proportion of troops sent by each family.

The Li faction and the Liang faction did not have any big ambitions. They were content as long as they could keep their own piece of land, so naturally they had no objections. Although Qu Guowei and Ma Changfang were extremely aggrieved, they did not dare to jump out and oppose Su Zhengyang since An Chengjie and Qian Haodong had basically broken the contract. During the meeting, Su Zhengyang cast murderous eyes at them intentionally or unintentionally, as if he would immediately target them if they dared to say a word of opposition.

In the second half of the meeting, under the vague threat of Su Zhengyang's eyes, Ma Changfang and Qu Guowei basically remained silent.

And just like that, this congressional meeting ended in an unexpectedly smooth manner.

Su Zhengyang's original plan to go to war if these four families dared to unite and cause trouble was thwarted because of Duan Jinshu's clever strategy of internal division. However, this is a good thing. From now on, Su Zhengyang can focus all his energy on the Fuso Kwantung Army, resolve the external threat first, and then settle accounts with them.