The Fourth Outstanding Person of Huangpu Military Academy

The 10th issue of "Socialist Industry and Agriculture" in 1928 was placed in front of Chen Tianheng.

On the table were all six issues of the magazine for the past six months. The article Ye Ting mentioned was in issue 10. After reading the article, Chen Tianheng frowned. What kind of Russian fanfare is this?

The author of the article had visited the Soviet Union and was a member of one of the four industrial inspection teams that visited the Soviet Union last year.

Chen Tianheng continued to frown as he flipped through other issues of the magazine and read the articles written by the industrial and agricultural investigation teams after they returned from their visit to the Soviet Union.

When Chen Tianheng saw "Agricultural and Animal Husbandry News in the Kursk Region", he stood up.

"The actual situation of the Izhevsk Arsenal. This is the information I collected while in Moscow."

Chen Tianheng sent a copy of the information to Chen Duxiu, Deng Yanda, Mao Runzhi, and Ye Ting:

The article in "Socialist Industry and Agriculture" contains obvious exaggerations. First, it exaggerates the current production efficiency of the arsenal. Of course, this may be related to the fact that the inspection team only visited the Soviet Union and not other countries to see what arsenals in other countries were like. Second, the article claims that the Izhevsk Arsenal was built in five years and that the industrial machine tools used were produced in the Soviet Union. This is the author's subjective intention. Anyone with eyes can see foreign nameplates on machines from Britain, France, and Germany on the arsenal workshops. Even the brick wall at the entrance to the Izhevsk Arsenal is engraved with the founding year of 1795.

"And this one, issue 11, 'Agriculture and Animal Husbandry in the Kursk Region.' Honestly, I was a little amused when I saw it.

"Why? That agricultural delegation's trip to Kursk to investigate agriculture and animal husbandry wasn't part of their planned itinerary. The Soviet Union arranged for them to visit elsewhere. I met a few friends at the Frunze Military Academy, one of whom was from Kursk. Through his connections and those of his relatives, I arranged for the local ranches and farms to host the agricultural delegation.

"Tsk..." Chen Duxiu: "So this article, and this one, 'The Fields of Harvest,' are also just bragging?"

"Yes. Specifically, I would say, 'Pictures speak louder than words.'

Chen Tianheng brought out a stack of printed materials, 20 centimeters high, consisting entirely of developed photos:

I brought a camera and film with me to the Soviet Union. As I mentioned earlier, I have friends in Kursk, so I've been there, visited the farms and ranches, and taken quite a few photos. You can see for yourself whether the rural areas of the Kursk region are truly as beautiful as described in this article.

Chapter 21, Su Chui Incident

"I'm not being harsh. But have all of you here become Soviet farm animals?"

Xia Xi's serious eyes swept over everyone in the venue.

Those present were members of four agricultural and four industrial delegations that had visited the Soviet Union in the previous year, but not all of them. A dozen or so people present were members of the delegations who, after returning home, published articles boasting about their achievements in magazines.

You are all Party members and cadres. You are familiar with the most fundamental philosophical principles of Marxism: consciousness and matter, subjective consciousness and objective consciousness.

"Objective consciousness is the grasp of the inherent properties and universal laws of things themselves. It is reflected in the grasp of scientific laws, natural laws, and social laws. More fundamental than all these laws is the grasp of objective facts."

“If, for some reason, objective consciousness is based on false objective facts, then it is naturally impossible for people to gain a true understanding of laws and rules.”

"If objective consciousness is built on a mirage, how can the subjective consciousness that depends on it be any better?

“If I translate it into plain language, it means:

"The distorted and misleading articles you wrote after returning from your study tour in the Soviet Union have had a negative impact on the central government and governments at all levels, as well as on Party members and the masses. These erroneous information has polluted people's cognition.

"Our other departments are working hard to clarify and correct this. This is a very hard job, but it has to be done, otherwise the contaminated perception will have a negative impact on the organization's decision-making. Now,

Xia Xi looked around the room and asked, "Do you all understand the seriousness of what you have done?"

Xia Xi was the second secretary of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee after Mao Runzhi. He later worked in the Central Secretariat, Guangdong District Committee, Central Rural Work Department, Hunan District Committee and other departments.

Xia Xi was a person who had a close and personal understanding of the rural reforms of the "Revolutionary Central Axis." At the time, he worked for the Hunan District Committee. Of course, he was marginalized there. After the revolutionary army captured Guangzhou, Xia Xi joined the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and currently serves as its Secretary.

After this incident was exposed, it was called the "Su Chui Incident" within and outside the party.

Another shock the Su Chui incident brought to the country was

These eight delegations were all invited by the Soviet government. Some of the members had previously studied in the Soviet Union, the so-called "internationalists." However, these internationalists had been identified by the organization, and less than half of the members had studied in the Soviet Union. No one from the Communist International was responsible for hosting them.

But perhaps for the sake of its own face, or for some other reason, the Soviet government still did it.

If for no other reason than to create and maintain a better image for oneself in front of foreigners.

Xia Xi personally took charge of this matter, isolated these dozen people, talked to them individually, and compared them with each other to find out how the Soviet side had brainwashed these people.

At the same time, the propaganda department has to do its best to reverse the narrative that has become a small trend in recent months.

However, this propaganda reversal campaign has won the support of most writers. Lu Xun published an article in Guangzhou Daily titled "Self-made Idols," criticizing and analyzing the internal and external reasons for this phenomenon.

"This matter is really thanks to those two stacks of photos of yours. With the photos, those elaborate and whitewashed claims are no longer tenable.

Chen Tianheng and Xia Xi, alumni of Hunan First Normal University who had worked together from the Anyuan Railway Mine Strike to the 1923 Peasant Association Movement, often discussed and consulted with each other. Upon hearing this, Chen Tianheng remarked, "This is all thanks to this little Leica-1. When I took out my camera in those places, few Soviet comrades realized it was a camera; they all thought it was some kind of surveying instrument used by a staff officer."

Xia Xi: "By the way, we are currently reviewing it, but our technical means of review are limited, and we are unable to detect and confirm whether they have received rubles.

Chen Tianheng: "I discovered it too. In fact, you should all pay attention to what Qin Bangxian said. His account is probably close to the truth.

During the private interview, Qin Bangxian answered every question and told everything he knew. He also asked for paper and pen to write down his experiences after entering the Soviet Union.

Qin Bangxian's inspection team went to the Donetsk region to inspect the local large-scale agriculture and also visited the mining area.

When the delegation arrived in Moscow, the Soviet Union held a welcoming banquet. The banquet was not lavish, but Qin Bangxian, after reviewing it, felt that the elements that appeared in the banquet were meaningful and deliberate.

The host of the banquet was a director of the Soviet Ministry of Agriculture. The director talked a lot with Qin Bangxian and others, and frankly admitted that Soviet agriculture now shoulders a heavy mission: 53% of the Soviet Union’s annual export value is agricultural products, of which 45% is grain.

But the director changed the subject and said that it was precisely because of this that we attached such great importance to agriculture.

On the railway from Moscow to Donetsk, in addition to the translator, there was also a low-level official from the Ministry of Agriculture who accompanied me. Unlike the director, this low-level official did not talk about the big picture, but rather talked about details and even jokes.

These jokes are not all about bragging about Soviet agriculture. On the contrary, they contain some Russian folk humor and satire.

Qin Bangxian recalled all this and concluded that this low-level official and the jokes he told were also deliberately arranged, just a joke that was a small insult but a big help.

In Donetsk, Qin Bangxian arrived at a local farm and was greeted by a welcome gathering. He experienced Donetsk folk song and dance performances. These authentic local songs and dances were an eye-opener for Qin Bangxian, who had never been exposed to Cossack culture before.

Qin Bangxian then summarized and added: "Before arriving in Moscow and even setting foot on the farmlands of Donetsk, Soviet officials had already given him sufficient psychological preparation." Afterward, whenever he saw the Donetsk countryside and its farmers, he could not help but fit what he saw and heard into the framework of this "psychological preparation."

If he saw something bad, his brain would automatically give an explanation.

Yes, so after returning to his country, when he wrote an article about what he saw and heard in the rural area of ​​Donetsk, he automatically gave an explanation.

For example, Qin Bangxian included the spring drought, a natural disaster that Donetsk suffered this year, in his article. Now it occurred to him that he had never received any confirmation of the spring drought from any other source besides the Ministry of Agriculture director's account, yet he had firmly believed it when he wrote his article.

Thus, the article written by Qin Bangxian and published in "Socialist Industry and Agriculture" was born.

The Soviet Union did not give Qin Bangxian rubles, but it is true that it treated him to several meals.

The article was almost entirely based on Qin Bangxian's personal observations. He observed the hard work in the countryside and how the local farmers' grain harvest in the first year after collectivization was even less than the previous year—of course, the villages he visited were selected by the Soviet Union, all of which were relatively well-off.

But while recording what he saw and heard, Qin Bangxian automatically tried to make up for this phenomenon. The arguments or logic he used to make up for it were the information that had been subtly instilled in him on the way to Donetsk.

If the Donetsk survey team was a location arranged by the Soviet Union, the group that went to Kursk for the survey was even more incredible.

This group's trip to Kursk was unplanned. It was the result of Chen Tianheng's friendly arrangement. After inspecting Belarus, the five people spent four days on a "free travel" tour around Kursk.

But during this free trip, two of the five people wrote articles, and both articles still whitewashed Kursk's agriculture and animal husbandry.

This can only mean that the brainwashing they and Qin Bangxian have undergone has reached the point where, when they are "traveling freely", whatever they see and hear, whether good or bad, they will unconsciously substitute it into the previously constructed logical framework and arrange the facts according to the solidified views that have long been formed.

Chen Tianheng: "Comrades on the Discipline Inspection Commission should read more books on psychology.

Xia Xi: "I think we should just invite psychology and anthropology teachers to teach here. ... This incident is a truly valuable part for future enlightenment. We must pay special attention to our future interactions with the Soviet Union.

"No, no," Chen Tianheng said, "it applies to all foreign interactions. It can even be said that other countries are more adept at this tactic.

During the process of characterizing and clarifying the Su Chui incident, a relatively interesting person, Ruan Xiaoxian, was discovered.

After returning to China, Ruan Xiaoxian also wrote his own investigation report. After it was published, he was attacked by other members of the investigation team and even his own team members, who accused him of deliberately slandering the Soviet Union. Ruan Xiaoxian was so angry that he slammed the table and cursed for months, and even broke off his friendship with the leader of the same investigation team.

Current investigations have found that only Ruan Xiaoxian's report provides a relatively objective description of the problems that arose in the Soviet Union after the first year of agricultural collectivization.

Another interesting person is Li Fuchun.

He went to the Izhevsk Arsenal, which was the inspection team where the first clue of the problem was discovered during the conversation between Chen Tianheng and Ye Ting.

In fact, the article published in "Socialist Industry and Agriculture" was originally supposed to be written by Li Fuchun, but he said he was stuck and gave up writing the article and handed it over to other people in the inspection team.

After Su Chui finished the investigation and handling, Xia Xi also found Li Fuchun to talk about what he was thinking at the time. Li Fuchun's answer was that he saw a lot of things in the factory, such as the fact that the industrial mother machines of this arsenal were almost all imported from Western Europe, and the quality of the bullets produced were not as good as those in Western Europe. For example, there was a strong smell of alcohol in the workshop, and even half a bottle of vodka could be seen. For example, there were piles of loose propellant everywhere, and other safety hazards.

However, when their inspection team came back, his colleagues disagreed with him. Although he was the team leader, the opinions of the five people were 4 to 1, and he was in the absolute minority.

So Li Fuchun decided to leave the task of writing the article to other team members.

"Old Liu, Principal Ye, things have been a bit turbulent lately, and both of your schedules have been changed.

Liu Bocheng: "This is what should be done and it is very necessary.

At the dock, Chen Tianheng saw off Liu Bocheng and Ye Jianying.

Chen Tianheng returned from further studies in the Soviet Union, and now it was Liu Bocheng and Ye Jianying's turn.

However, they were not to be sent to the advanced classes of the Frunze Military Academy for further studies. Ye Jianying was to visit the Frunze Military Academy to inspect it. As the principal of the Whampoa Military Academy, he was to inspect this highest military institution in the Soviet Union to help the next stage of the Whampoa Military Academy's reform.

Liu Bocheng went to the Advanced Staff Institute of the Frunze Military Academy, where Chen Tianheng was doing research, as a visiting scholar and studied some issues with the Soviet side.

Ye Jianying's inspection period was three months, and Liu Bocheng's visit and research period was five months. This was not the key point. The key point was that due to the Su Chui incident, both of them were assigned a personal secretary, which was requested by Xia Xi.

From now on, officials and military commanders who stay in the Soviet Union or abroad for a long time and have close contact with foreign governments and non-commercial organizations will be handled in this way.

Chen Tianheng: "Principal Ye, the Whampoa Military Academy's War Research Institute is comparable to Frunze's Senior Staff Research Institute. In fact, when I was in Frunze, I really wanted to recruit Instructor Triandafilov, but I didn't convince him until I left. If possible, why don't you try to do his job again?

Chapter 22: Tendering for Selection of Light Machine Guns for Final Assembly

General Staff.

Chief of General Staff Chen Tianheng reviews the deployment of the National Revolutionary Army (Guangzhou) on a map.

Since the armistice with the Nanjing government, the battle line has indeed not changed much.

In Hunan, three divisions of Peng Dehuai's Fifth Army were stationed in Hengyang. After more than half a year of construction, Hengyang had established a relatively solid arc-shaped defensive line. Similarly, across the confrontation line in Zhuzhou and Xiangtan, the Guangxi Clique's Hunan Army also established a defensive line.

The Second Army was on the Hunan-Jiangxi border. The northernmost Fourth Division was near Xiushui-Wuning, and the southernmost Sixth Division was south of Pingxiang.

The Third Army was stationed in Jiangxi, mainly in Ganzhou, in southern Jiangxi. Ganzhou's tungsten ore production had tripled compared to a year ago, acting as a small money-printing machine for the Guangzhou government.

The First Army was stationed in the Guangzhou-Shaoguan area, serving as the general reserve for Hunan. The Fourth Army was stationed in the Meizhou-Chaoshan area, serving as the general reserve for Jiangxi.

The Sixth Army was the only force stationed north of the Yangtze River, the protector of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui base area, and the mountain deity of the Dabie Mountains. However, due to a ceasefire, the main force of the Sixth Army was still stationed in Huangan-Macheng.

The Kulun Independent Division moved from Guangzhou to southern Jiangxi three months ago, preparing to form the Seventh Army here.

There was also a base in western Hunan, where He Long's autonomous army was about to take shape.

这六个军，1、3、4、5军是标准师构成的野战军,技术兵器、炮兵等等都比较充沛。第2军和鄂豫皖的第6军是轻装的山地部队，一是他们的作战区域所需,二是条件所限。

If we assess the current military situation overall, the greatest instability and risk lies in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui base area. Unlike the contiguous base areas to the south, it is separated by the Yangtze River. Even the 4th Division of the Second Army, located far north of the Yangtze River, would have difficulty moving to the Hubei-Henan-Anhui region. Small-scale sneak crossings of the Yangtze River are possible, but large-scale troop movements across the river are not so easy.

Hubei, Henan and Anhui are in an unfavorable position, and current intelligence shows that Feng Yuxiang's Northwest Army is moving towards Wuhan, because Chiang Kai-shek forced Feng Yuxiang to come out of the Northwest to suppress the Communists - either fight the Communists for me or lay off your troops.

Chen Tianheng checked the response plan of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui region for a possible encirclement and suppression war, and found that they had indeed prepared a detour around the Dabie Mountains. If they encountered a large-scale encirclement and suppression, and the troops south of the Yangtze River could not support the north of the Yangtze River, the Hubei-Henan-Anhui base could abandon the plains such as Huangan and Macheng, and withdraw the main force, the backbone of the government in the plains, etc. to the Dabie Mountains.

Zhou Shidi even set up a war-preparation grain depot in the Dabie Mountains.

"We must establish a base in western Hubei as soon as possible," Chen Tianheng said. "West of Wuhan, relying on the rural mountainous areas, but able to attack and threaten Wuhan if necessary. This will greatly reduce the pressure from Hubei, Henan and Anhui."

Zhou Yiqun: "The autonomous movement in western Hunan has flourished, and our Party organization has indeed expanded from western Hunan to western Hubei. However, western Hubei also faces the same problem: if we establish a base and regular troops there, we will have to cross the Yangtze River to communicate with the base in the south."

Chen Tianheng: "Besides this, the greatest security guarantee for Hubei, Henan, and Anhui is the political statement made by the central government to the whole country."

The central government's political statement was a declaration sent to the whole country, telling the whole country clearly and unambiguously: The Hubei-Henan-Anhui Revolutionary Base Area is the territory of the Guangzhou Democratic United Government. Launching a full-scale attack on the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Base Area is equivalent to launching an attack on Guangzhou. The revolutionary army's counterattack will not be limited to the areas around Hubei, Henan and Anhui.

This announcement was very formal and was known to all sectors of society throughout the country. Therefore, when Chiang Kai-shek transferred the Northwest Army, he did not even say that he intended to attack the Hubei-Henan-Anhui base area. Instead, he said that he was transferring several armies of the Northwest Army for military reorganization to unify military orders across the country.

The revolutionary army's counterattack was no casual talk. The General Staff developed a plan to seize the opportunity to launch local offensives, taking Zhuzhou, Xiangtan, and even Changsha in one fell swoop, and seizing the coal mines in Pingxiang and the iron mines in Hunan and Jiangxi.

"General Secretary Chen, this is the draft of the appointment and removal of senior commanders of the revolutionary army prepared by the General Staff."

Chen Tianheng submitted the appointment and removal plan formulated by the General Staff to Chen Duxiu.

"Comrade Liu Bocheng is going to the Soviet Union for inspection and exchange. Comrade Zhu De, Chief of Staff of the Second Army, is proposed to be the commander of the First Army."

Chen Duxiu took a look at the draft. It was not complicated, just two pages.

"I thought the commander of the First Army would continue to be promoted from the senior officers of the First Army."

"Comrade Zhu De possessed extensive experience in commanding troops and conducting combat. He was also a commander with a deep understanding of campaign tactics, and his mind kept abreast of the latest developments in military theory," Chen Tianheng said. "At the same time, the revolutionary army is a unified entity. Most of our current revolutionary army units derive from the same source, the Whampoa Military Academy, but there are also officers from outside the Whampoa Military Academy, including commanders. Since they are within the ranks of the revolutionary army, they are treated equally."

Chen Duxiu: "I'm a little worried. Zhu De was the chief of staff of the Second Army, having been promoted from the Third Army. The Third Army seemed to have been established with the help of Ye Ting's Fourth Army. If he were transferred to the First Army, where he had almost no experience leading troops, would it make his job difficult?"

Chen Tianheng: "If this happens, it's not Comrade Zhu De's fault, but rather a problem with our military's organizational development and political education. We haven't yet established a modern military system and a regularized army. We must make changes until the transfer of high-ranking commanders like this can be seamless and smooth."

The Third Army was formed and strengthened by the Fourth Army in southern Jiangxi. The Fourth Army's predecessor was the 24th and 25th Divisions, and before that, the Ye Ting Independent Regiment. The Ye Ting Independent Regiment... when they were in Huangpu, they were also a group with these people from the First Army.

Peng Dehuai was already a member of the Party for a long time in the Pingjiang Independent Regiment and the Fifth Army, which were established after the Pingjiang Uprising. The current commanders and staff of the Fifth Army were either assigned by the First Army or were graduates of the 5th, 6th, and 7th classes of the Whampoa Military Academy who were accepted.

In short, the National Revolutionary Army in Guangzhou is now a force of "single source and single origin", which is probably unprecedented in Chinese military history.

Besides adjusting the General Staff's operations, military command, planning, and other departments, Chen Tianheng also had other things to do:

The General Armament Department will also be established.

"Minister Li Qiang, the General Armament Department will be your Party A from now on." Chen Tianheng, Nie Rongzhen, and Li Qiang held a meeting.