Did he trick the young marshal into becoming sworn brothers and then go south to Huangpu Military Ac

"General Lin! The Soviets will never take what their friends have for nothing!"

Pavlov shouted loudly in Russian, and the interpreter followed along, spitting as he translated.

"Tonight I'll use the highest-level code to send a telegram directly to Moscow! I'll personally explain the actual difficulties in Guangzhou to the higher-ups, even if I have to bang my fist on the table and curse, I'll fight for double the military aid and more rubles in funding for the Whampoa Military Academy!"

Faced with the Soviets' fervent offer to provide more money and weapons, Chiang Kai-shek was so excited that he almost jumped up.

Lin Qi simply held the cup of cold tea, smiled faintly, and remained noncommittal.

Without shedding a drop of blood, using a technology that was already doomed to perish, they turned the arrogant Soviets into laborers begging for food in Moscow.

The news spread like wildfire, quickly reaching the study deep within the Grand Marshal's mansion.

Mr. Liao, Mrs. Wang, Mrs. Hu, and others, who were worrying about the funding for the first phase of the military academy's deployment, were all shocked and stood up from the sofa after hearing the attendant's vivid report!

What's going on?!

Those arrogant, penny-pinching Russians, who practically wanted to devour their headquarters whole, not only voluntarily relinquished control over the military academy's commanding officers, but also, as if injected with adrenaline, proactively requested increased military aid and funding from Moscow?!

What kind of spell did Lin Tuozhi cast on the Soviets?!

Inside the study, the expressions of the elders shifted unpredictably, as if a jumble of emotions had been stirred within them.

Overjoyed, the gentleman was astonished by Lin Qi's political skills.

He believed that Lin Qi was not only an industrial giant, but also a peerless strategist with the talent to mediate with international powers. Entrusting him with military supplies and arsenals was a stroke of genius.

For Chiang Kai-shek, who was reporting, it was a mixture of joy and fear.

The good news is that with twice the Russian guns and cannons as a foundation, my position as principal has become more secure than ever before.

What he feared was that his sworn brother was a devil who could manipulate foreigners with just a few words.

To befriend such a person is like asking a tiger for its skin.

Wang and Hu's faces darkened completely. They exchanged a glance and both saw the intense fear in each other's eyes.

Lin Qi first held financial power, then controlled the arsenal, and now miraculously grasped the lifeline of Soviet military aid.

His power in his headquarters has grown to the point where he can rival them!

Could it be that I've gained another enemy?

Lin Qi didn't care at all about the rumors and political suspicions circulating outside.

Time passed swiftly with the southerly winds of early spring.

While Lin Qi was training the Soviet engineers at the arsenal like a hawk, wielding both a big stick and carrots to guide them, he was also ruthlessly pushing forward the military academy's enrollment work.

The recruitment brochure, filled with four ironclad rules—iron-bloodedness, hard work, and extreme rigor—spread like wildfire across the country along with the newspapers.

Although the warlords were mocking and the politicians were watching, on the vast land of China, those young people who were truly oppressed and whose hearts were burning with the flames of national salvation could smell the true blood and guts of revolutionary armed forces in this murderous document.

……

In a dark alleyway in Shanghai, Jiangsu Province.

Hu Shoushan, who was short in stature and came from a poor family, was staring intently at the crumpled copy of the Shenbao newspaper in his hand by the dim light of a kerosene lamp.

He had been repeatedly rejected when applying to military academies in various places because he was less than 1.6 meters tall, and he was disheartened. But when he saw the sentence in the newspaper, "Regardless of background, we give preference to the poor and oppressed farmers and workers, and value only physical strength and the will to endure hardship," a fierce fire suddenly ignited in his eyes, which were unwilling to be mediocre.

"This is where real men should go!"

Hu Shoushan slammed his fist on the broken wooden table and resolutely resigned from his meager salary as a primary school teacher. He sold his few tattered clothes and books to scrape together enough for a steerage ticket to Guangzhou.

In a small town on the banks of the Xiang River in Hunan Province.

Chen Chuanjin, who came from a relatively well-off family but was extremely rebellious and full of revolutionary fervor, was sitting in a teahouse with several progressive young people.

He pointed to the menacing slogan in the newspaper, personally added by Lin Qi: "Those who fear death should not enter this door; those who seek promotion and wealth should take another path."

"That feels great! That's fucking great!"

Chen Chuanjin slapped his thigh and exclaimed with delight: "Those Beiyang warlord camps are just places to seize territory and make money. The Whampoa Military Academy is the place where real soldiers should go!"

Without the slightest hesitation, he shouldered his simple luggage, bid farewell to his family, and boarded the train heading south to Guangzhou.

In Shanxi, amidst the biting north winds of the Loess Plateau.

Xu Xiangqian, a man of few words and extremely tenacious character, repeatedly read the four ironclad rules of recruitment on an old newspaper he had picked up from the county town.

He keenly sensed that this was definitely not an ordinary notice from an old warlord recruiting cannon fodder. The requirement for primary school graduation and rigorous physical examinations conveyed a chilling industrial feel and an extremely terrifying level of discipline unique to modern warfare.

"This army is capable of achieving great things."

Xu Xiangqian tucked the newspaper into his pocket, silently packed his hard, dry rations, and set off on his long journey to Guangzhou, braving the swirling yellow sand.

Late February to early March.

The gears of history, driven by the powerful butterfly effect of Lin Qi, began to mesh wildly.

Countless future generals, who would later become renowned throughout the world and dominate the battlefields of the War of Resistance against Japan and the Liberation War, converged on that humid and sultry island from all directions, like thunder and lightning across the land.

Guangzhou, Tianzi Wharf.

Candidates from all over the country came with their bedding rolls and wore all sorts of tattered clothes.

Filled with fervent aspirations to become "disciples of the emperor" and "officers of the new army," they lined up in long queues, waiting for the ferry to take them to the island, their eyes sparkling with boundless longing for the future.

however.

On the unfinished, muddy drill ground of the Whampoa Military Academy on Changzhou Island.

Lin Qi was wearing a dark gray training uniform without any military rank insignia, and was carrying a heavy white ash wood stick in his hand.

Looking at the densely packed list of candidates who had passed the preliminary exam and were eligible for the second round of interviews in his hand, a cold, ruthless smile curled at the corner of his mouth, like that of a living Yama.

Chang Kai-shen, standing to the side, was terrified as he looked at the strange and even cruel torture instruments that Lin Qi had set up on the playground. He broke out in a cold sweat and swallowed hard several times.

These high-achieving young people, full of enthusiasm, set foot on the island without any idea what was going on.

What awaited them was not some military academy where they could bring glory to their ancestors and engage in eloquent discussions in class.

Instead, it was this vice principal who personally created the eighteen levels of purgatory for them.

The real selection process has begun for the first cohort of students at Huangpu.