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

Chapter 201: The Specific Plan for the House Arrest of Xia Zhenhua and Asano Wenliang

Xia Zhenhua, 35 years old, is one of the representatives of the young and middle-aged generals of the entire Northern Xinjiang government. He is also the only general under 40 years old in the Northern Xinjiang system, except for Su Zhengyang's brother-in-law Yang Chengjun. Not only has he been promoted to lieutenant general at a young age, but he is also the commander-in-chief of the entire Northern Xinjiang Central Guard Corps, in charge of the 100,000 Central Guard Corps of Longzhou Province. He is Yang Jiakai's absolute confidant and right-hand man.

Xia Zhenhua was a rigid and principled person who only knew how to lead troops in battle and was straightforward. At the age of 29, with the help of Yang Jiakai, he married a woman from Mrs. Yang's family. They had a son who was four years old at the time. Unfortunately, his wife died during childbirth due to complications.

Xia Zhenhua attached great importance to his only blood descendant. Normally, his son Xia Yubo lived in Xia Zhenhua's mansion and was under strict protection.

Asano Atsuyoshi, the meticulous and cunning chief of the Kwantung Army's secret service, had set his sights on Xia Zhenhua a long time ago. He specially arranged for a Japanese woman named Sakai Yoshiko, who grew up in the Northeast, to sneak into the Xia residence and become the Xia family's nanny. Over a period of five years, she gained the trust of Xia Zhenhua and his wife. After Xia Zhenhua's wife passed away, Xia Zhenhua's son Xia Yubo was mainly taken care of by Sakai Yoshiko, who used the alias Liu Guilan.

A week ago, Asano Wenliang had already ordered Sakai Yoshiko, who was lurking in the Xia family, to find an opportunity to take Xia Zhenhua's son out of the Xia Mansion and hand him over to the Fuso secret service agency. The headquarters of the Lan, one of the four major secret service agencies, Plum, Orchid, Bamboo and Chrysanthemum, is located in Jinggang City. Xia Yubo is now detained in a secret branch of the Lan agency in Jinggang City.

After his son went missing, Xia Zhenhua was extremely anxious. In less than a day, Xia Zhenhua received a secret letter from Fuso, which detailed that Xia Yubo had fallen into the hands of the Fuso Lan Agency. If he wanted to redeem his son, he would have to go to Beijing-Hong Kong alone to meet with the head of the Lan Agency.

A day later, Xia Zhenhua, who had disguised himself, appeared in a Fuso izakaya in Jinggang City as scheduled. Seeing Xia Zhenhua, who was wearing a washed-out coarse cloth and pushed the door open, Asano Wenliang stood up with a kind smile on his face and slowly said, "Commander Xia, I have heard of your name for a long time, but I have never had the chance to meet you. Commander Xia's coming here in person today has fulfilled my wish."

Xia Zhenhua had no intention of chatting with Qianye Wenliang at this moment. His expression was cold, his eyes flashed with anger, and he clenched his fists and said, "You Fuso people are really despicable and shameless! You will do anything to get what you want. Where is my son? Give him back to me!"

"Commander Xia, please be patient and sit down so we can talk slowly."

Xia Zhenhua forced himself to suppress the anger in his heart, sat opposite Asano Wenliang, and stared at Asano Wenliang's face.

"Commander Xia, there is an old saying in China that a wise bird chooses a tree to roost in. Now that a large-scale all-out war has broken out in the West, we in Fusang are second to none in terms of military capabilities and foundation in the entire Far East. Without the constraints of the British Empire and Tsarist Russia, our next goal is the entire China. If you are willing to cooperate with all our actions, I will not only guarantee that your son will be returned intact, but I will also give you a very lofty status and even support a new regime with you as one of the top leaders."

After hearing this, Xia Zhenhua finally understood Asano Wenliang's plan. He immediately knocked over the wine glass on the low table in front of him and sneered rudely, "You Fuso people's wolfish ambitions are already known to everyone. You want me, Xia Zhenhua, to be your Fuso lackey and help the evil. It's ridiculous. This is the greatest insult to my personality!"

Asano Wenliang's expression darkened at a speed visible to the naked eye, and his sharp eyes swept across Xia Zhenhua like a knife.

"Commander Xia, I'm glad you came to see me, but your unreasonable attitude disgusts me. Your son is still in our hands. Don't refuse my toast and drink a forfeit!"

Xia Zhenhua ignored Qianye Wenliang's threatening look and said firmly: "Even if you kill me! Kill my son! I will never betray Northern Frontier and become an eternal sinner of China!"

"Then I'm sorry, Commander Xia, for the next few days, you will most likely be detained by us at the headquarters of the Lan Agency, unable to live or die. Someone, take Xia Zhenhua away!"

Four Fuso agents in black suits rushed in with pistols, pointing the black muzzles directly at Xia Zhenhua.

"Before I came, I was already prepared for everything. Even if you put me under house arrest, the entire Central Guard Army will never cooperate with you Fusang to do anything that is detrimental to the Northern Frontier Government!"

"You don't need to worry about this, Commander Xia. Mr. Zhu Haidong, the deputy commander-in-chief of the Central Guard Army, is a wise man who knows how to deal with current affairs. He has reached a preliminary agreement with Fuso. During the time you are missing, they will announce to the public that you were seriously injured in an assassination attempt. The control of the entire Central Guard Army will be temporarily handed over to him. By the time Yang Jiakai, the current top leader of Northern Xinjiang, reacts, the situation in Beilong City will have changed."

"What on earth do you want to do?!"

"Don't get excited, Commander Xia. We just want the Northern Frontier government to have a new leader who can accept our control."

In fact, Asano Onryo had already planned everything. Even the deputy commander-in-chief of the Central Guard Army, Zhu Haidong, had long been corrupted by pro-Fuso factions such as Zhang Chengxiang and became a deeply buried chess piece of the opponent.

The three Zhili provinces controlled by Zhang Chengxiang bordered Longzhou Province. If Zhang Chengxiang wanted to launch a coup, the only obstacle would be the Central Guard Army with a number of 100,000. As long as he could control the Central Guard Army, the biggest stumbling block, in his own hands, Zhang Chengxiang could immediately send troops north to control the situation in Longzhou Province, launch a coup, and eliminate Yang Jiakai. Jiang Yanlin in the northeast was restrained by the Kwantung Army and had no energy to take care of Longzhou. The Ding faction of Hongzhou to the west of Longzhou had also been won over by Zhang Chengxiang and would send troops to intercept the Duan faction troops in Guanzhou and Yang Jiakai's direct six-town troops in Yuanzhou.

When the overall situation is determined and clear, the presidential faction will be powerless to turn the situation around. Zhang Chengxiang, with the support of many provincial governors from his faction, will become the new president of Northern Frontier and control the entire northern border of China.

This was a conspiracy that had been planned for nearly ten years by Fuso and pro-Fuso forces such as Zhang Chengxiang. Now all preparations have been made. As long as Xia Zhenhua is placed under house arrest, the right to speak for the entire Central Guard Army will fall into Zhu Haidong's hands.

This incident actually happened at the critical juncture when the Southern Government launched the Northern Expedition, which makes people think carefully and horrified. At least the entire Southern Government played an extremely important role in it.

Once all their actions are successful, Zhang's army can immediately march northward and, together with the Fuso Kwantung Army, attack the Jiang and Duan factions' troops, thus dividing and annihilating the entire Northern Frontier President's faction.

As for Su Zhengyang who was in the northwest, Asano Wenliang originally planned to let the 300,000 Kwantung Army in Mengguo go south into Mengzhou to distract Su Zhengyang's attention. Unexpectedly, Su Zhengyang was extremely aware of the hidden dangers and took over the entire Mengzhou Province with tough and iron-blooded means. With the 100,000-strong First Army led by Liu Chengxu of the Northwest Revolutionary Army stationed on the border, it would be extremely difficult for Fuso to accomplish the feat of going south.