Before the Battle of Mihu broke out, the commander of the Shanghai Army, Lu Yongxiang, began to "strike" Li Houji!

Yang Sen and the Northern Expedition Army commanded by Yang Jie also began to deploy troops in Zhejiang, ready to seize this rich land at any time.

At this time, Li Houji was a little panicked.

It turned out that in his vision, once Zhejiang was captured, his main force was still there, plus Xijiang, using Zhejiang's wealthy land as the source of military salary and backing Shanghai and Jiangsu, or being able to barely fight with the Northern Expedition Army.

But who would have thought that before the Northern Expedition Army arrived, Lu Yongxiang from Shanghai had already come to "siege" him.

Can Zhejiang still defend itself if two attacks are attacked?

Li Houji, who was in the slacking dagger, arranged defenses and made the worst plans, while secretly contacting the Northern Expedition Army, attempting to sacrifice part of his own interests in exchange for most of his own interests.

Unfortunately, the Northern Expedition Army has formulated a peace talks plan formulated by the President himself. Negotiations are possible, but the premise is that they must accept the request of the National Government, give up the army, and only serve as the governor, and have a one-year term.

This point made Li Houji unacceptable. For these warlords of all sizes, the army means everything. If the army is lost, everything will be lost soon.

Just when Lee Houji was hesitating, Lu Yongxiang's troops had already arrived!

In July, Lu Yongxiang guarded Shanghai with He Fenglin, and personally led two divisions of troops to attack Xijiang. On September 11, Lu Yongxiang launched an attack on Jiaxing.

112. The two armies conducted a test attack in Jiaxing. As soon as they contacted, the two armies took the initiative to separate and confronted each other with Jiashan as the center.

In Jiashan, the Zhejiang Army arranged by Li Houji personally guarded the Zhejiang Army with his confidant Li Saiyuan. In Longquan, Li Houji personally defended the Northern Expedition Army with his defeated Yue Army who had personally retreated to Zhejiang.

The vanguard of the Northern Expedition Army took Tong Jiaxuan's 42nd Division, Lin Zhiyuan's subordinate, as the vanguard, and quickly entered Zhejiang.

In this way, it became the Northern Expedition Army, and the Lu Yongxiang army surrounded Zhejiang.

Until this time, Li Houji was still lucky and hoped that his two teams could stop the enemy's advance, allow him to gain a foothold in Zhejiang, and gain the right to bargain with the National Government!

However, his Xishan Gen was soon hit with a ruthless blow!

On July 18, as if the agreement had been made, the Northern Expedition Army and Lu Yongxiang Army launched an attack on Zhejiang at the same time.

Li Houji first abandoned Tong Jiaxuan, and then took advantage of Yang Shande's illness to seize the position of governor of Zhejiang, and pissed the former governor of Zhejiang Yang Shande to death, which made him have a very bad reputation in Zhejiang.

As soon as the war broke out, the Zhejiang army on the front line was defeated one after another and had no intention of responding to the battle. On just one day on the 16th, Zhejiang lost the Jiashan battlefield and was defeated in Jiaxing one after another.

On the 20th, Li Saiyuan concentrated all his troops and fought against Lu Yongxiang in Jiaxing. But like the battle in Jiashan, Zhejiang was not willing to fight, and Li Saiyuan was defeated again in the decisive battle in Jiaxing.

When the war reached this point, Li Saiyuan had no intention of continuing.

He quickly gave up Jiaxing and retreated to Tongxiang. While calming down the morale of the army, he also acted as a stance to defend Tongxiang.

Li Houji, who is in Hangzhou, is in a mess. What happened? At the same time as the decisive battle in Jiaxing failed, his troops in Longquan were also severely hit by the Northern Expedition Army and abandoned Longquan in just one day.

Then a heavier blow came to Li Houji's head.

On July 21, Li Houji's confidant, also his own cousin, Li Saiyuan, issued a telegram in Tongxiang and announced that he would accept the leadership of the National Government!

This news made Li Houji dizzy like a thunderbolt. He would never have thought that his cousin whom he trusted so much would betray him!

In fact, when Li Houji betrayed Tong Jiaxuan and the Fujian Army, he should have expected that this day would come sooner or later. He could betray others and others could betray him!

Yang Sen quickly expressed his acceptance of Li Saiyuan's surrender and announced the adaptation of Li Saiyuan's Zhejiang Army as the 43rd Division of the National Revolutionary Army, and ordered him to defend Tongxiang and threaten Hangzhou.

This is not only Lee Houji, but also Lu Yongxiang is in a very embarrassing position!

Originally, he was fighting against Li Houji, but with Li Saiyuan's surrender, he was no longer facing the Zhejiang Army, but the National Revolutionary Army!

If you continue to attack Tongxiang, you will openly fight against the National Revolutionary Army and will soon aim your target at yourself.

what to do?

Lu Yongxiang was in a dilemma, and he would definitely not be able to attack. He returned to Shanghai. He wasted so much military pay. He was really unwilling to go to Shanghai in a vain.

The Northern Expedition Army did not have so many concerns. The Northern Expedition Army, which had obtained Longquan, quickly advanced towards Jinhua. Li Houji's direct Fujian army retreated all the way and failed to form an army.

Finally, Li Saiyuan was still thinking about some love and did not directly attack Hangzhou, which gave Li Houji some breath.

But the situation is no longer critical now. According to the current strength and morale of the two armies, Jinhua will soon be lost, and then the Northern Expedition Army, which is advancing along the way, will soon advance to Hangzhou!

Li Houji no longer had the strength to continue to hold on. At this time, he had only less than one mixed brigade force left in his hand!

The Northern Expedition Army even closed the door to peace talks!

Only the last path left for Lee Houji: step down!

On July 26, a fatal blow to Li Houji happened: the Zhejiang Federation of Commerce announced that it would support the National Government's Northern Expedition and provide one million troops to the Northern Expedition!

Although it was just a Zhejiang Commercial Federation, the blow to Li Houji was no less than the annihilation of several divisions.

This means that the Zhejiang Consortium has abandoned the "outsider" Li Houji and turned to the Northern Expedition Army completely!

In fact, the Zhejiang Consortium did not regard Li Houji, who seized the position of governor in Zhejiang, as his own person, but when the Northern Expedition Army was in a state of unstoppable position on the front line, Li Houji was completely abandoned.

What businessmen value most is interests!

After losing militarily and losing financial support, Li Houji has no choice!

On the 28th, a large number of Zhejiang Bank representatives including Zhejiang Industrial Bank, Industrial Bank, East China Banking Corporation and other Zhejiang Bank arrived in Jinhua to persuade the local defenders to put down their weapons.

On the same day, under the persuasion of representatives of these consortiums, the Jinhua defenders announced their surrender.

In the Battle of Zhejiang, these consortiums played an important role. Although Jinhua would sooner or later fall into the hands of the Northern Expedition Army, the Jinhua defenders did this to prevent them from continuing to fleeing to Hangzhou, allowing Li Houji to continue to have fantasies.

On the 30th, the General Command of the Northern Expedition Army's Cavalry Regiment entered Jinhua and met with these representatives of Zhejiang Consortiums.

During the meeting, Yang Sen received one million yuan in funding from the Zhejiang Consortium to the Northern Expedition Army, and expressed his friendship with the Zhejiang Consortium on behalf of the President, and expressed his intention to ensure their interests in Zhejiang.

This undoubtedly satisfyes these consortium representatives.

The influence of the Zhejiang Consortium, or to be more precise, is very great.

In the late Qing Dynasty, the transformation of money banks to modern banks began. In this process, in addition to the gradually affected money banks with business dealings with foreign banks and the new industry and commerce could only have new requirements for money banks, two major events had a huge impact on this transformation. In 1897, Sheng Xuanhuai founded China's first bank, China Tongshang Bank. On the eve of the Revolution of 1911, China Tongshang Bank's capital plus deposits and issuance of banknotes, the funds that could be used reached 10 million taels, far exceeding any money banks at that time, which gave the money banks a huge shock and sense of crisis.

But at the same time, Yan Xinhou, Ye Chengzhong and Zhu Jiasan of Ningbo, invested in China Merchants Bank and served as general directors, marking the beginning of the money banking industry's entry into modern banks.190

In 4 years, the Qing Dynasty Minister of Revenue Lu Zhonglin was ordered to establish the Qing Dynasty's Ministry of Revenue Bank. Due to the empty treasury, private capital was invited to invest. The Shanxi Piaohao, who was originally invited, unanimously refused to invest. As a result, the Ministry of Revenue Bank was planned by a silk merchant in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. In 1908, the Ministry of Revenue Bank was renamed the Qing Dynasty Bank, and its capital was expanded to 10 million taels, and most of it was controlled by merchants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. At the same time, it independently invested in the creation of Siming, Xijiang Xingye, Zhejiang Industrial, East China, China Advocate, China Enterprises and other large number of banks. With the help of a large amount of capital accumulated in the money industry, the above-mentioned banks have strong capital and strong competitiveness. In the process of expanding bank business, non-Ningbo merchants and capitalists had close contact with it, and the scope of financing gradually expanded from a single Ningbo to Zhejiang, Anhui, and Jiangsu!

At this point, banks controlled by people from Jiangsu and Zhejiang have become the most important force in the Shanghai financial industry, and the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Consortium has been officially formed.

Now, the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Consortium has completely turned to the National Government!

The double blow in military and economic situation has made Li Houji unable to persevere anymore.

On August 2, 191, Lee Houji announced his resignation.

On the same day, Yang Sen announced that he would accept Li Houji's stepping down and clearly stated that he would ensure the safety of Li Houji's personal life and property. After the Northern Expedition Army entered Hangzhou, Li Houji was still responsible for the public security in Hangzhou.

On August 9, after full preparation, the vanguard of the Northern Expedition Army entered Hangzhou, and Li Houji walked out of his military commander-in-chief.

At this point, another warlord who once dominated China has stepped down.

Lee Houji then left Zhejiang and arrived in Hong Kong via Shanghai. He and his previous governors,

Like the military governor, Li Houji left the military and political circles and became a free and easy apartment man.

No need to worry about military victory or defeat or political open and secret struggles. Perhaps the condo is the best choice for them.

Zhejiang fell into the hands of the National Government, and in addition to Jiaxing, Lu Yongxiang's troops were stationed.

The Northern Expedition Army did not seem to have any opinions on Lu Yongxiang's stationed in Jiaxing, and they even adopted a tacit settlement, which is indeed very puzzling.

Yang Sen and Yang Jie were waiting, and the Northern Expedition Army was also waiting for something, it was also a sudden change.
Chapter completed!