On the eve of the fall of Liaodong, he led his troops in a remonstrance against the young marshal.

Four o'clock in the morning, at the theater.

The telegraph machine, which had been quiet, suddenly started beeping rapidly.

Secretary Hong took the still-wet telegram from the confidential clerk, glanced at the few lines of text on it, and his fingers trembled so violently that he almost tore the paper in half.

He looked up at Zhang Xueming standing by the window, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down three times before he finally swallowed the lump of something stuck in his throat.

"Second Master... a call from Beidaying!"

"We annihilated 180 enemy soldiers and captured four infantry guns! A great victory!"

Zhang Xueming suddenly turned around, strode to the table, snatched the telegram from Secretary Hong's hand, and scanned it from top to bottom with his eyes.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

Zhang Xueming laughed wildly, looking up at the sky.

"good!"

He slammed his hand on the table. "Good! Good!"

He cried out twice more, each cry louder and more joyful than the last.

He slammed the telegram on the table, turned around and paced back and forth in the side hall, then tilted his head back and exhaled a long breath towards the ceiling.

We made it.

He made it.

He turned around and roared at the Wolf Warriors, "Did you hear that! Not a single one escaped!"

Wolf Warrior stood at attention, a rare smile playing on his lips beneath his helmet:

"Yes, sir."

But not everyone in the side hall was happy.

Zhang Xueliang slumped in his armchair, the muscles in his face twitching uncontrollably.

From the moment Secretary Hong read the telegram aloud, his face gradually turned paler.

His fingers gripped the armrests of the armchair so tightly that his nails dug into the mahogany, and his knuckles bulged out one by one from the force.

"You're insane... Second brother, you're fucking insane!"

Zhang Xueliang sprang up from his chair and kicked over the coffee table in front of him, shattering teacups and teapots all over the floor.

He pointed at Zhang Xueming, his fingers trembling violently, his heart filled with immense fear.

"Do you know what you've done? You killed an entire Japanese company! An entire company!"

"One hundred and eighty lives! The Japanese devils won't let this go! They'll drag the entire Northeast Army into hell!"

His voice was so sharp it cracked, echoing back and forth in the side hall.

The confidential staff were so frightened that they huddled in a corner, not daring to even breathe.

Secretary Hong dropped her pen on the table, the ink staining a large patch of telegram paper.

Zhang Xueming slowly turned around, his smile gradually fading.

Looking at Zhang Xueliang's furious state, he suddenly felt a pang of sadness.

This person was the commander of the Northeast Army, Zhang Zuolin's son, and the elder brother of the person in this body.

He had an army of 300,000, the largest arsenal in all of China, and 30 million fellow countrymen.

"Big brother."

Zhang Xueming's voice suddenly turned cold, "How can you still be so stupid?"

Zhang Xueliang's face flushed red, his expression full of resentment.

"Even now, don't you understand the Japanese devils' wolfish ambitions?"

Zhang Xueming took a step forward. "What they want is not Beidaying, they want the entire Northeast."

"If you don't fight back tonight, they'll dare to occupy the entire Fengtian tomorrow."

"You killed 180 of them tonight, and now they'll have to think twice before trying to take a bite out of us, or they'll break a few teeth."

"You can't even understand such a simple principle? Are you a pig-brain?"

"You're talking nonsense!"

"They have concerns! There's international pressure! There's the League of Nations!"

"There's always room for negotiation! By launching an attack, you've blocked all avenues for maneuver and shut the door on negotiations!"

"League of Nations?"

Upon hearing those two words, Zhang Xueming suddenly smiled.

"Truth lies only in cannon fire. Did your so-called League of Nations ever truly help you?"

"When the Japanese occupied Northeast China, were they afraid of the League of Nations?"

"Would those countries in the League of Nations go to war with the Japanese because of a mere warlord like you?"

"Keep dreaming. In this world, there are only eternal interests, not eternal enemies."

"How much weaponry does the Japanese import from the US every year? Would they really turn against the Japanese? Dude, can you stop being so naive?"

"As for negotiation? The window for negotiation was already closed when the Japanese attacked Beidaying."

"While you hesitate and look back, the Japanese are gambling with the fate of the nation."

"You're negotiating with someone in front of them, and they're stabbing you in the heart from behind."

"By the time you've finished your discussions, Fengtian will be gone, Jilin will be gone, Harbin will be gone, the entire Northeast will be gone. Who will you be discussing things with then?"

He walked up to Zhang Xueliang, and the two were less than two feet apart.

He looked into Zhang Xueliang's bloodshot eyes and said, word by word:

"All compromises are appeasement."

"Do you know what people in later generations would call someone like you? A traitor."

"It was your weakness that allowed the Japanese to grow stronger step by step, and eventually launch a full-scale invasion of China."

Zhang Xueliang's face turned from deathly pale to ashen in an instant.

The word "appeasement" was like a slap in the face, landing hard on his cheek.

"I am not a traitor!" Zhang Xueliang roared.

"Yes, you are not."

Zhang Xueming sneered, his laughter filled with contempt, "The one in the south is the real one."

"You're just stupid."

"With 300,000 strong and well-equipped troops, if you are told not to resist, you will simply hand over the three northeastern provinces to the Japanese."

"You're not just betraying your country, you're just incredibly stupid to uproot the very foundation that sustains you and give it to someone else."

"So stupid that you get sold out and still count the money for the seller, so stupid that you give away all your possessions and still think you've done the right thing."

He reached out and grabbed Zhang Xueliang by the collar, pulled him close, and whispered:

"If it weren't for me tonight..."

Zhang Xueliang's lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but only a muffled gurgling sound came out of his throat.

He was so angry he was practically seething, yet he couldn't find a single word to refute him.

"Get ready right away."

Zhang Xueming loosened his collar and pushed him back a step. "Come back to Fengtian with me in an hour."

"Even if you die, you must die in Fengtian!"