The Fourth Outstanding Person of Huangpu Military Academy

The question now is how to tie Chen Tianheng to my side.

Woolen cloth?

"Leave it to me." Zhang Jingjiang volunteered, "I have a way.

Nanjing. Xiaguan.

The CCP Angrily Denounces Zhang Fakui for Detaining Communist Party Members of the Fourth Army

Borodin Calls on Zhang Fakui to Release Communist Officers and Party Representatives in the Fourth Army

Zhang Fakui's Statement: All Communist Party Members of the Fourth Army Have Applied to Withdraw from the Party

Several news items in the newspapers these past two days have confused readers across the country.

At the First Division headquarters, Chen Tianheng was also stunned when he saw these reports.

"The story behind this isn't that simple. Let me sort it out.

Chen Tianheng held up these reports and said: "First, it is impossible for Ye Ting, Jiang Xianyun, and Chen Geng to have left the Party. If that is the case, then Zhang Fakui's statement that all Communist Party members in the Fourth Army have quit the Party is definitely wrong. Zhang Fakui was protecting Ye Ting and others out of camaraderie, and he also didn't want the Fourth Army to suffer too much loss.

"Secondly, why did news of the detention of Communist Party members in the Fourth Army spread?" Chen Tianheng frowned. "The known news is that the Wuhan Party Central Committee required Communist Party members across the country to take leave from their posts. If members of the Fourth Army did not quit the Party, they would have to take leave and leave the Fourth Army. This was not what Zhang Fakui wanted... and I believe it was not what Ye Ting, Jiang Xianyun, Chen Geng, and others wanted either."

Xu Xiangqian: "Jiang Xianyun and Chen Geng certainly didn't want to leave the Fourth Army, but Ye Ting has always been under the leadership of the Wuhan Central Committee and the Military Department, and Ye Ting didn't ask for leave. Doesn't this mean...?"

Chen Tianheng: "Yes, Ye Ting should have accepted their opinions.

Chen Mingren: "I said Ye Ting would stand on our side in the end.

Chen Tianheng: "This way, success is basically guaranteed. Otherwise, the First Division alone, whether in Shanghai or Wuhan, would not be able to accomplish it.

The main obstacle facing Shanghai was the 7th Army blocking Suzhou, while the 17th and 26th Armies were also stationed in Shanghai. Wuhan was crowded with numerous armies, either stationed around Wuhan or in northern Hubei and southern Henan. All of these were on the Beijing-Hankou Railway, allowing them to quickly support Wuhan. Chen Shuming's 11th Army and Tang Shengzhi's 8th Army were among the more effective units.

Fighting so many armies with only the spare parts from the 1st and 2nd Divisions would be exhausting, even if they could win. Besides, the opposing armies wouldn't be deployed one after another. Only if the 1st and 25th Divisions fought side by side, and if Ye Ting could also remove some spare parts from the 24th, that would be even better. Only with these four divisions would there be any hope of victory.

Four divisions..

"Shochi?"

Chen Tianheng was surprised. He had been waiting for news from the 25th Division in Anqing, but before the letters from Chen Geng and Jiang Xianyun arrived, Xiang Qi, who had worked with him in the peasant movement at the Yuebei Farmers and Workers' Association, arrived in Nanjing.

After the Yuebei Peasant Movement, Xiangqi and Chen Tianheng separated and later went to Guangzhou. Chen Tianheng, Chen Geng, and Jiang Xianyun went to Huangpu, while Xiangqi attended the Peasant Movement Training Institute. Xiangqi then returned to Hunan and engaged in peasant movements in southern Hunan. Chen Tianheng met Xiangqi when the Northern Expedition Army left Guangdong and headed north, but that was more than half a year ago.

But, instead of continuing the peasant movement in southern Hunan, what was Xiangqi doing in Nanjing?

"Secretary Mao sent me here. The peasant movement in southern Hunan has been disrupted.

Chen Tianheng's heart sank: "The right wing of the Kuomintang took action so quickly?

Xiang Qi: "They are not the right wing of the Kuomintang, but the international wing of the Communist Party.

The southern Hunan peasant movement zone lay along the Communist International's "Wuhan-Guangzhou Central Axis," a region the Communist International believed must be firmly controlled. Following the dismissal of Chen Duxiu, the Rural Work Departments of the Wuhan and Guangdong District Committees embarked on a "Bolshevization of the Central Axis." This not only wrested control of the region's rural areas from the Kuomintang, but also required a second round of land reform in areas where the Party-organized peasant movement had already undergone land reform.

In early February, the Party Committee of the Tianjiawan Farmers' Association, where Xiangqi worked, received a notice that a special working group had arrived at the association. Xiangqi summoned the Party Committee members to receive the working group, and the first thing the working group did after meeting was to announce the reorganization of the Tianjiawan Farmers' Association.

"According to the central government's deployment, Tianjiawan is a rural area that should be Bolshevikized," said team leader Luo Tengyi.

Xiang Qi: "Don't mention those semi-foreign words. I know Bolshevik, it's the self-proclaimed name of the Communist Party of Russia and the Soviet Union, so isn't this communism?

Luo Tengyi: "It is pure communism, not the current state of half-nationalism and half-communism.

Xiang Qi: "...Okay, just tell us what changes our superiors want us to make.

"At present, Tianjiawan still has a semi-feudal, semi-socialist land ownership system, which is not in line with the thoroughness of the revolution. From now on, the Tianjiawan Farmers' Association will no longer operate under a formal name, and a Tianjiawan Collective Farm Federation will be established. The Farmers' Association can no longer recruit landowners, and the Party Committee must be reorganized.

"What? Collective farm?!"

"This meant taking the land away from the peasants and placing it under the unified control of the collective farms and higher collective farm unions. The peasants cultivated the allocated land and paid grain to the collective farms.

"What? No! Absolutely not!" Xiang Qi thought Commissioner Luo was completely screwed. "Most of the dozen or so villages under the Tianjiawan Farmers' Association only started land reform 25 years ago. The farmers have only owned their land for less than two years and have only harvested one crop. And you tell them your land is gone?!"

Luo Tengyi sighed, "Who says the farmers' land is gone? The land is only owned by the public! Isn't the public land his land?"

Chen Tianheng: "…"

Xiang Qi: "Because I contradicted the head of the special working group on the first day of the working group meeting, I was subsequently dismissed from my position. Luo Tengyi became the president of the Agricultural Cooperative, no, the Tianjiawan Collective Farm Federation. Of course, I also worked under him, after all, I had to obey the organization's arrangements. Later, on March 15, the Tianjiawan peasants revolted against collectivization, and the Collective Farm Federation disbanded.

Chen Tianheng: "…" language: Hebi: Heshu

Due to certain historical changes, some areas of Hunan achieved land reform ahead of schedule, and as a result, the Communist International also came to "add icing on the cake" ahead of schedule. Land reform completed? Okay, then the collective farms.

Chen Tianheng: "So, the Communist International is talking about establishing Bolshevikized rural areas along the central axis. Besides areas like Tianjiawan where land reform has already been implemented, there are still many areas in this central axis that haven't undergone land reform. Are they also going there to do this?"

Xiang Qi: “Yes.

Chen Tianheng: "Have you heard about how those areas are doing?

Xiang Qi: "It's worse than the dozen or so villages in Tianjiawan. Also, Liao Fangbing, who was involved in the peasant movement around Hengyang, hasn't been seen since the end of February. My friends say he might have been purged."

Chen Tianheng: "Is it Liao Fangbing, the one we, a dozen or so people, raided the home of the great bully Zhao Nianci in Yuebei? The Liao Fangbing who sang songs and walked dozens of miles at night to reunite with Mao Runzhi?

"right.

Chen Tianheng: "Seventh Uncle, ...Comrade Lao Xiang, you will leave for Shanghai tomorrow to see General Secretary Chen Duxiu. Secretary Mao should have told you that he, and I, still recognize Chen Duxiu as our General Secretary. I will tell you how to meet him. Also, I will write a letter tonight, and you will take it to Shanghai and give it to Secretary Chen Duxiu."

After writing the letter, Chen Tianheng handed it to Xiangqi, asking him to carefully hide it in the seam of his clothes. Xiangqi wasn't actually an old man, and even calling him Uncle Seven wasn't quite right, as Xiangqi was only 10 years older than Chen Tianheng. However, after only six months of not seeing him, Chen Tianheng felt Xiangqi had aged significantly.

Chen Tianheng was also in a bad mood. He and the General Staff had just planned to take the First Division and dismantle parts of the Second Division, then dive into the rural areas of Hunan and Jiangxi, emerging with a fully staffed First and Second Divisions. Ye Ting's troops would also dive into the countryside, emerging with the fully staffed 24th and 25th Divisions. Now... were there still four divisions left?

"Commander, Commander!"

Chen Tianheng: "It's so late, what's going on?

Chen Mingren: "Principal Jiang has sent a handwritten note. Please come to Shanghai when you are free in the next few days."

Chapter 84: He is the most determined red general

Back at the First Division's staff headquarters, Chen Tianheng found a pen and circled the area south of Changsha and north of Shaoguan: "Rural organizations in this area have been destroyed, and local farmers will have little support for us. Now only the Hunan-Jiangxi border remains."

Huang Wei, a geography expert and tool, said, "Then it's the rural organizations in Xiushui, Tonggu, Liuyang, Shangli, and Pingxiang counties. These counties have a total population of about 140 million, and there are basically no grain export areas."

Chen Tianheng: "Yes, the axis of Yueyang, Dongting Lake, Changsha, and Hengyang is Hunan's rice-producing area, and it's also the densely populated area. ... Oh, and we have to add Ji'an. Secretary Mao's farmers' association just took over Ji'an.

Ji'an was also a poor place. When Huang Wei was planting a small flag in Ji'an, Chen Tianheng took a special look at the southwest direction of Ji'an.

Jinggangshan is right there.

"The situation in the Fourth Army was that Zhang Fakui did not want the Communist Party members in the army to leave. He intended to provide protection for the Communist Party, claiming that we party members had already quit the party, but in fact we did not have to quit.

"The Wuhan Central Committee instructed that Party members in the Fourth Army request leave from the army and gather in Wuhan. Some were then to join the workers' and peasants' armed forces in Hubei. Another group was to move north. We discussed this with Division Commander Ye for a long time, and he decided to indirectly reject this overly risky directive from the Military Department. He therefore announced to the public that the Party members of the Fourth Army had been placed under house arrest by Zhang Fakui."

Chen Geng's letter basically confirmed Chen Tianheng's previous speculation after reading the newspaper reports.

What's the point of confirming this? ...Of course.

"Now you can tell Commander Ye that the Shanghai Party Central Committee has some plans and programs for the future of the Chinese revolution. We hope that he will follow the instructions of the Shanghai Party Central Committee in an emergency. If he agrees, we will determine the contact person and the signal to establish direct contact between Secretary Chen Duxiu in Shanghai and Ye Ting.

"As for the communication channels between the 1st and 25th Divisions, they will remain in their current state. Secretary Chen Duxiu will decide whether to inform Ye Ting of the 1st Division's situation. We should not disclose it without authorization for now."

Shanghai.

Chen Tianheng's second letter had not yet arrived, but Xiangqi had already brought the first letter. After reading the letter and asking Xiangqi about the specific situation in the rural areas of southern Hunan, Chen Duxiu immediately drafted a letter to Chen Yannian.

"The Party is currently facing an extremely dangerous situation. This doesn't refer to Shanghai alone, but rather the entire Chinese Communist Party organization and all its members nationwide. This is not alarmist."

“I don’t know the instructions the Communist International gave to the Party Central Committee, nor do I know why the Communist International issued these instructions, but these instructions clearly have serious problems or are inconsistent.

"Under the current circumstances, the Party should not withdraw its members from the army and military and political organs, but should firmly hold their posts and carry out thorough revolutionary propaganda to the soldiers. The place where the Party should withdraw its radical line is in the countryside. But now the Party organization in Wuhan has completely reversed itself. When it should be tough in the military field, you have chosen to be conservative. When it should adjust policies in the countryside to avoid exacerbating contradictions, you have chosen not to change them.

"The last bit of hope:"

"If the Party Central Committee is determined to move to Feng Yuxiang's jurisdiction, please at least divert the Party members, teachers, and students of the Whampoa Military Academy's Wuhan branch to Anqing to join the Fourth Army. I can now guess that Zhang Fakui hopes to accommodate the Communist Party in his army."

Wuhan.

"From Wuhan to Xi'an? All mass work has to start all over again!"

"How can we carry out our work in Xi'an? Is anyone familiar with the conditions and the people of Xi'an and the Northwest? If we keep drifting back and forth like this, how long will it take for us to achieve communism?"

Luo Yinong spoke out in opposition.

At the Wuhan Central Committee meeting, following Borodin's instructions, the Central Committee prepared for two scenarios: the first was to launch an uprising in Wuhan; the second was to take advantage of the period during which Wang Jingwei was still showing leniency towards the Communist Party and gradually relocate the Central Committee and some Party organizations to the northwest.

The Northwest is the area controlled by Feng Yuxiang. Feng Yuxiang's National Army swore an oath in Wuyuan last year to participate in the war against the Beiyang warlords, but in the war it was a force independent of Guangzhou and was not directly controlled by the Guangzhou Revolutionary Government/Northern Expedition Headquarters.

Moreover, Feng Yuxiang also independently accepted Soviet arms and financial aid. Due to the direct border with the Soviet Union (through Outer Mongolia), this arms support route was not affected by the outside world and could not be cut off by Britain and the United States.

Qu Qiubai: "The revolution did suffer some setbacks. But the fact that it originated in Guangzhou was a result of the KMT-CCP ​​collaboration. Sun Yat-sen and the KMT had their headquarters in Guangdong, and the Soviet Union, collaborating with the KMT, naturally established its base in Guangzhou. In my opinion, Guangzhou wasn't the best birthplace for the Chinese revolution; the Northwest was. This was because the Northwest was connected to the Soviet Union by land, and Western imperialism couldn't sever our ties with the Soviet Union."

Luo Yinong: "The problem is that the Party has completely blacklisted the situation in the Northwest, including Feng Yuxiang. The Party organization in the Northwest is very weak, with very few members, branches, and Party committees. When we get there, we're unfamiliar with the place, so how can we guarantee we'll take root?"

Zhang Tailei: "The Central Committee has already sent an advance team from Wuhan to Zhengzhou, and now it has arrived in Xi'an. Also, Comrade Luo Yinong, we in the Communist Party of China do not know enough about Feng Yuxiang's situation, but the Soviet Union knows a lot about Feng Yuxiang. Soviet comrades have a very high opinion of Feng Yuxiang, calling him 'the most thorough revolutionary Chinese power and the most determined red general.'

"The most steadfast Red General, haha," Luo Yinong laughed. "Don't Soviet comrades know how many times Feng Yuxiang has rebelled since he became a warlord?"

Zhang Tailei: "We don't need to worry about that. No matter how many times he rebelled when he was a warlord, after joining the revolutionary camp, he couldn't rebel even if he wanted to. The Soviet Union was watching him from behind.

Luo Yinong and Zhang Tailei had nothing to say and could only roll their eyes and sit down.

Seeing that everyone in the meeting had almost finished arguing, Chen Yannian spoke up:

"The Comintern's arrangement is for our central organs to move into the northwest, initially settling in Xi'an. However, Xi'an is not the final destination and may eventually be moved to Guisui (Hohhot). Collaborating with Feng Yuxiang and the Nationalist Army does involve risks, but the Comintern has stated with absolute certainty that we can enter the Nationalist Army's territory, indicating that they must have given it careful consideration. I believe the central organs can be relocated there."

"But when entering the territory of the National Army, we still have to consider that Feng Yuxiang is a warlord. Although Feng Yuxiang accepted revolutionary ideas, his territory and his control over the army are all inherent private property of warlords. We must be careful not to intensify these contradictions after entering the territory under the jurisdiction of the National Army.

Ren Zhuoxuan: "Secretary Chen, feudal warlords like Feng Yuxiang are inherently anti-people and anti-revolutionary. Although he supports the revolution now, this is only superficial because he is forced to do so by the circumstances. We will eventually get rid of him. I don't think there's any need to be so cautious. We are the representatives of the Communist International and the Soviet Union in China, not servants serving a master!"

Ren Zhuoxuan's speech sparked another round of arguments in the meeting. After several rounds of debate, the audience was evenly split between those who supported and those who disagreed, with neither able to convince the other. Chen Yannian then spoke up, stating that the most likely way to exacerbate the conflict would be to relocate the Wuhan branch of the Whampoa Military Academy to Wuhan. While the central government could prepare for the move, the Communist Party members at the Wuhan branch would be advised to find another location.

Regarding Ren Zhuoxuan's faction, Chen Yannian said that after the Central Committee settled in the Northwest, the Soviet Union would provide instructors and other conditions to establish a new military academy in the Northwest, which was entirely possible.

Finally, the Central Conference passed this decision.

Xi'an.

In August 1926, Feng Yuxiang received 15,000 guns and 1.5 million rounds of ammunition from the Soviet Union, which greatly increased his strength. At the end of 1926, he broke the siege of Xi'an by Liu Zhenhua's Zhensong Army of the Fengtian clique and moved the headquarters of the National Army to Xi'an.

At this time, the National Army had reached Luoyang in the east, while the Northern Expedition Army in Guangzhou entered Zhengzhou and ceased fighting with the Fengtian Army across the Yellow River. The three forces met here.

That night, Feng Yuxiang's private residence welcomed a mysterious guest, Zhang Qun, the chief of staff of the Northern Expedition headquarters.

Zhang Qun was a classmate of Chiang Kai-shek at the Zhenwu School in Japan, and they had a close relationship. After the Northern Expedition began, Zhang Qun went south to Guangdong and joined the Northern Expedition, serving as a staff officer of the National Revolutionary Army, one of Chiang Kai-shek's core staff members.

Before coming to Xi'an, Zhang Qun went to Beijing first - he was the secret envoy sent by Chiang Kai-shek to Zhang Zuolin.

The peace talks between the Fengtian clique and the National Government on the unification of the North and the South were being conducted by the public negotiation envoy Li Shizeng, but the secret envoy Zhang Qun discussed more than just the terms of the unification of the North and the South in Beijing.

But now that the discussion is over, Zhang Qun came directly to Xi'an from Beijing

"Marshal Feng, are you aware that the CCP's headquarters is planning to relocate to the northwest, which is your jurisdiction?"

Zhang Qun asked.

Feng Yuxiang: "The Soviets seem to have said so.

Zhang Qun: "Marshal, the South is now expelling the Communists. They are not allowing the Comintern's advisors to move around, and they are not allowing the CCP to conduct public activities. Now even the newspapers are guessing the answer. The Northern Expedition is over, and it's time to split up.

"You southerners are really interesting, always rebelling. Just a few months ago, your Chairman Wang was still saying that socialism is the Three Principles of the People. As for me, this is my belief. What can I do?"

Feng Yuxiang turned around and pointed behind him. There was a huge portrait of Lenin hanging on the wall of the reception room.

Before 1924, a huge Christian cross had been placed at this point in Feng Yuxiang's reception room. However, Zhang Qun didn't want to expose this. He shook his head and said, "Expelling the Communists isn't betrayal; on the contrary, it's about not betraying the country. The Soviet Union is essentially the same expansionist Russia, but in form, it's even more powerful than before. The Soviet Union now wields the stick of communism in its left hand and the sharp blade of its constituent republics in its right. They first communistized your country, then declared it a communist state and urged it to join the Soviet Union. Marshal Feng, are you willing for China to become a constituent republic of the Soviet Union?"

Feng Yuxiang remained expressionless: "I don't want to. But I don't think the Soviet Union can swallow China."

Zhang Qun: "If we can't swallow up all of China, what about taking a bite out of it? Now the Soviet Union has occupied Kulun, and even after the establishment of the Soviet Union, they haven't said they're going to give it back. The entire Outer Mongolia is now under Soviet control. If we still rely on the Soviet Union, what if they provoke a conflict in Xinjiang and repeat what happened in Mongolia? What if the Soviet Union asks for Northwest China? What if the Soviet Union sends troops from the Chinese Eastern Railway to occupy Northeast China?

"Marshal Feng, there's something that's been suppressed and hasn't been reported yet. Just a few days ago, Marshal Zhang Zuolin, with the consent of various embassies, raided the Soviet Embassy in Beijing and seized a large number of documents. Marshal Zhang was so frightened after reading them that he broke out in a cold sweat."

Feng Yuxiang moved his body.

Zhang Qun said that Zhang Zuolin was frightened and broke out in a cold sweat, but why was Feng Yuxiang himself also sweating?

"Frankly speaking, Guangzhou also received Soviet guns, artillery and ammunition and invited Soviet advisers, but as long as it breaks with the Soviet Union and the Communist Party, it will not be an unjust act, but a legitimate measure to safeguard national sovereignty. All previous actions can be washed away. Marshal Zhang,"

Without waiting for Feng Yuxiang to speak, Zhang Qun continued, "After the unification of the country, it is legitimate and necessary to retain a strong army in the northwest to safeguard national territorial rights and interests and guard against foreign invasion. At that time, the armies of the eighteen provinces in the Han area will be disbanded, but the troops in the northwest will not be disbanded."

Chapter 85: The First Division Enters Trusteeship Mode

First Division Headquarters.

Chen Mingren, Xu Xiangqian, Lu Deming, Yuan Zhongxian, Qian Dengruoxian and Huang Wei from the General Staff were present.

During the Battle of Jinpu Road, the 1st Division established a temporary corps headquarters. Chen Mingren was assigned to serve as corps chief of staff. Chen Tianheng then promoted Xu Xiangqian to the position of Chief of Staff of the 1st Division's forward command post, with Zheng Dongguo appointed as commander of the 1st Regiment. After the battle, the 1st Army temporary headquarters ceased operations, but Chen Tianheng did not return the positions of several key officers to their original positions. Instead, he appointed Xu Xiangqian as "Deputy Chief of Staff."