The Fourth Outstanding Person of Huangpu Military Academy

Deng Ping: "Yes. But when this joke came out last year, the coalition government was indeed facing financial crises. Twice a year, the government couldn't pay salaries for the month, so Guangzhou people made a joke about it."

Banning opium and abolishing the likin tax meant the government lost revenue, while opening schools and building railways meant the government had to spend more money.

These four policy measures can be briefly summarized as "saving resources and opening up flows". No wonder the Cantonese people make up jokes to have fun.

But fun is fun, and seriously speaking, even if Hu Hanmin ran back to Guangzhou now, the people of Guangzhou would have to politely send him back to Nanjing, even though Hu Hanmin was a native of Guangdong, and Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao and others were all outsiders.

Overall, after the period of borrowing money from all directions in the first half of 1928 and the period of economic difficulties in the second half of 1928, the financial situation in 1929 basically improved.

There was no going back to the ban on opium, and the same was true for the lijin system. However, the abolition of the lijin system, which was collected in stages across the country, and its replacement with a one-time commercial tax was a more efficient and modern tax collection method.

When the system was reformed last year, the commercial tax system had not been established. By 1929, commercial taxes had been collected and their coverage was becoming increasingly wider.

Tariffs continued to be withheld. Starting in January 1929, Guangdong Province introduced a local surcharge law, adding a 15% surcharge to imported steel and textiles, without the Nanjing government reclaiming tariff autonomy.

Originally, China's tariff rates were not set by itself, and most commodities were subject to a low tariff level of 5%. Now Guangzhou has raised the tariffs on steel and textiles to 20%.

On the one hand, this led to a significant increase in tariff revenue, and on the other hand, Guangdong's local steel and textile industries suddenly became promising and popular investment industries.

During the mid-to-late Qing Dynasty, the steel industry in Yunfu, Guangdong, flourished. However, it was shattered by foreign steel imports in the late Qing and early Republican eras. Now, Yunfu's steel industry is on the rise again. Forty- and fifty-year-old workers who once worked at the ironworks are being recruited again, and bosses are investing in reopening the tiny iron mines in western and northern Guangdong.

There is a Baeser furnace in Yunfu that was built in the 19s. It was abandoned and closed more than 60 years ago. Now an owner has bought it and plans to renovate it and restart it.

China's domestic steel smelting technology is indeed far behind that of the old industrial countries in Europe and the United States, and the gap with Japan is also not small. The previous 5% tariff was completely unable to narrow the technological gap between China and foreign countries. As a result, Guangdong's steel industry was beaten by cheap foreign steel and eventually died out.

Now that the tariff rate has been raised to 20%, coupled with the freight disadvantage and the advantage of low domestic wages, domestic steel mills are now able to compete.

Another reason why the steel industry became popular first is that the amount of steel used in infrastructure construction in Guangdong is really huge.

For example, the place Chen Tianheng is now inspecting is the Shaoguan-Chenzhou section of the Guangdong-Hankou Railway.

"Commander Chen!" At the Nanling No. 2 Tunnel construction site, Chen Tianheng got out of the car and saw the Commander of the Engineering Corps, Chen Yi, wearing a leather jacket and big sunglasses.

"Commander Chen, wow, you look really stylish now."

Chen Yi: "The leather jacket is because the mountain is too high and the weather is too cold. The sunglasses are because the sun is shining and the eyes are blinding."

Chen Tianheng looked around. The mountain scenery was absolutely breathtaking—covered in silver, a blanket of white snow. Within Guangdong Province, winter snowfall can be at least 20 centimeters thick. This is a real thing; the Nanling Mountains are simply too high.

"Construction of the Guangdong-Hankou Railway began in 1900, but until last year, the section between Chenzhou and Shaoguan hadn't even begun. There's a reason for that. This section, the Nanling section, is the most difficult to build on the entire line."

Chen Yi: "So the Engineering Corps will be the vanguard. Wherever there's danger, the Engineers will be there."

"The commander wrote a poem a few days ago to praise the army building the Guangdong-Hankou Railway," said the secretary beside Chen Yi.

Chen Tianheng: "Oh? Commander Chen, please read it aloud."

Chen Yi: "A railway connecting Guangdong and Hankou was built, and 300,000 soldiers were mobilized. Workers opened small roads, and engineers conducted extensive surveys. Explosives were laid abundantly, and blastholes were drilled quickly. With a loud bang, the mountain split in two."

Chen Tianheng: “….…”

What should we do? Is it necessary to put Commander Chen on the most dangerous front line in order to produce a famous poem?

Chen Tianheng: "It's not even the end of the Lunar New Year yet, no, it's the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, and the Lantern Festival hasn't arrived yet. Are the Engineering Corps the only ones working on the Nanling construction site?"

Chen Yi: "That's basically it. Farmers are going home for the New Year. But two kilometers north of here, there's a civil engineering company involved in the project, and they started work yesterday."

To shorten construction time, the Nanling section of the Guangdong-Hankou Railway is being constructed simultaneously at multiple locations. Along the Hunan-Guangdong Highway, construction sites and makeshift sheds are everywhere, piled high with various construction materials. However, more than half of these sites along the way are suspended. The small portion that remains under construction is primarily being handled by the Engineering Corps. This situation will continue until the first day of the second lunar month, when nearby migrant workers will return to the construction sites.

Two kilometers north of the Nanling No. 2 Tunnel construction site, there is no tunnel under construction, but there is a bridge under construction, which is being constructed by Guangzhou Rongli Civil Engineering Company.

Chen Tianheng discovered that there were actually no migrant workers working at the bridge construction site. There were only a dozen or so people who looked like engineers or technicians doing surveying and exploration.

"Hello, sir. Welcome to our company's construction site."

The person walking towards him was the head of this construction site, but Chen Tianheng noticed that he stood straight and walked like the wind, like a veteran.

But this temperament doesn't seem like that of a revolutionary. Chen Tianheng: "You are...?"

"I'm Rongli's third branch manager and construction team leader, Sun Liren." "Ahem!"

Chen Tianheng coughed and said, "Manager Sun Liren, ... you seem to have military training experience."

"After graduating from the Department of Civil Engineering at Purdue University in the United States, I entered the Virginia Military Institute and returned home after graduating last year."

Chen Tianheng: "After returning home, have you ever thought about applying for a job in Nanjing or in our army?"

Sun Liren: "Haha, not interested." Yoha...

Chen Tianheng wondered if Sun Liren, after returning to China in 1928, was immediately drafted into the military by T.V. Soong because of the 1928 Jinan Massacre? If it weren't for the Jinan Massacre, would his passion actually be civil engineering?

"Civil engineering isn't a bad idea," Chen Tianheng said. "Building the nation, developing industry and commerce, and becoming an industrialized nation has been the dream of the Chinese people since modern times. In Guangdong, and in other areas liberated by the coalition government, we will focus on investing resources in infrastructure. Civil engineering companies will have a bright future. You and your company will never be short of work in Guangdong."

Sun Liren: "Yes. I have planned to develop in Guangzhou for a long time."

"That's good," Chen Tianheng smiled. "According to the recently passed National Defense Mobilization Law, citizens of appropriate age who have received military education like you should register as reserve officers with the coalition government."

Chenzhou.

Fifth Army Headquarters.

"Old Peng, the Xiangtan-Zhuzhou-Changsha battle plan you reported was actually a rough estimate. Many of your assumptions about the enemy situation were based on the most optimistic scenario."

Chen Tianheng was talking about the plan submitted by Peng Dehuai and Huang Gonglue to quickly capture Changsha.

Huang Gonglue: "The Fifth Army can launch a quick surprise attack. Of course, if the entire First Army is deployed, with the First and Fifth Armies leading the attack, and the Second Army infiltrating from the Hunan-Jiangxi border to cut off the Yueyang-Changsha road, then we will be even more confident."

Peng Dehuai: "This requires certain conditions to be met, such as the Hubei-Henan-Anhui base area drawing away two or three enemy armies. Then the entire Hunan province would be empty."

Chen Tianheng: "The Battle of Changsha is a major battle that affects the entire army. If the General Staff decides to fight this battle, not only will the First Army be fully involved, but the Second Army and even other units will also participate."

Huang Gonglue: "The Second Army? The Fourth Army? The Third Army?"

陈天衡:“总参在做将第四军快速集结到湘南的方案。除此之外，湘西自治军会在几个月内初步成型。我们要动用1、2、4、5军，加湘西自治军或者说第8军,再加上至少4个根据地的独立团，确保把长株潭地带稳妥地收纳进来。”

Huang Gonglue: “…When will this be implemented?”

Chen Tianheng: "It depends on when Chiang Kai-shek provokes."

Chapter 25: Hunan Front

Now Chen Tianheng is the chief of the general staff. When reviewing the combat plan in the Hunan direction, he found that he had quietly changed his way of thinking, and his way of looking at problems was different from when he was the division commander and army commander.

As Chief of the General Staff, he was tasked with ensuring his side had a military advantage before the battle began. While commanding the First Division or First Army, Chen Tianheng considered how to maximize the effectiveness of his troops and achieve the greatest possible results, given that the overall battle plan had already been finalized.

Chen Tianheng certainly knew that Xu Xiangqian's First Army was still the revolutionary sword of the past, and that the First Army's technical and tactical qualities and the completeness of its equipment had made considerable progress in the past year. However, as the chief planner of the battle, Chen Tianheng could not set goals such as "one army destroying two armies" in his plan.

Therefore, the General Staff had to plan to have the Fourth Army join the battlefield. The plan drawn up by the General Staff Operations Department was for the Fourth Army to advance to Ganzhou, then pass through Ji'an, Anyuan, and Pingxiang, joining the battle from the right side of the theater.

This also requires a strategic deception plan to cooperate: let Chiang Kai-shek's 9-strong group in Nanchang-Yingtan-Fuzhou and 5 people in Jiujiang stay where they are and not move, at least not to suddenly launch a surprise attack on Ganzhou.

Chen Tianheng also demanded that the Xiangxi Autonomous Army complete its field reorganization within three months and acquire preliminary cross-border combat capabilities. The General Staff Operations Department drafted a plan for the 8th Army's operational route after its field reorganization: it would bypass Changde from Taoyuan County south of Changde and head directly to Yiyang. Conquering Yiyang would then pose a threat to Changsha's flank.

However, Chen Tianheng felt that the Operations Department had overestimated the 8th Army's ability to maneuver and attack on a large scale. Fighting all the way from Xiangxi to Changsha, the counties along the way were not so easy to capture.

"Tear it down, rebuild it, tear it down, rebuild it again. How many times has the Eighth Army been rebuilt? Isn't He Jian tired of it?"

In Chenzhou, Chen Tianheng and Peng Dehuai worked together to study the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Tanzhou defense system for the Nanjing region. The two armies stationed in Changsha were marked with large "7C" and "8C," representing the Guangxi clique's 7th Army and the Hunan 8th Army, which had been absorbed by the Guangxi clique.

A year earlier, after suffering devastating losses in the Hunan-Southern Campaign, the 7th and 37th Armies were reunited. The 37th Army was disbanded, and its soldiers and key officers were transferred to the 7th Army. Over 10,000 soldiers were recruited from Guangxi, bringing the 7th Army's strength back to 26,000. Li Mingrui's 8th Guangxi Division was the 7th Army's most effective unit.

However, the 8th Army was completely disintegrated in the Battle of Southern Hunan. The current 8th Army is essentially a newly established one, and has little bloodline inheritance with the old 8th Army.

Peng Dehuai: "The 8th Army's equipment was all purchased from Zhang Zuolin's Northeast Arsenal. In addition, the Hunan Military Academy has been steadily producing officers. The 8th Army is considered quite capable among Chiang Kai-shek's armies. We cannot let our guard down just because we've defeated him twice."

Li Zongren stationed the 7th and 8th Armies in Changsha as mobile corps for the entire theater. The 9th Army was stationed between Xiangtan and Zhuzhou, and the 18th Army was stationed between Zhuzhou and Pingxiang. These two armies formed an arc of defense towards Hengyang.

At the same time, Li Zongren certainly noticed the 2nd Army active on the Hunan-Jiangxi border. In order to guard against the 2nd Army, Li Zongren deployed the 36th Army in Liuyang and the 10th Army placed one division in Pingjiang, Miluo and Xiangyin respectively.

In addition to the troops in Changsha, Zhuzhou and Xiangtan, Li Zongren also deployed the 47th Army and the 11th Army of the Guangdong Army in Yueyang as reserve forces.

Li Zongren had eight armies in Hunan and three in Hubei. In contrast, Chiang Kai-shek's army in Jiangxi actually had only six armies, plus two armies in Anqing and Tongling, which were located along the Yangtze River and could be quickly transported to Jiujiang, for a total of eight.

From this point of view, it is feasible to implement strategic deception against Chiang Kai-shek's army. Why would the revolutionary army attack Hunan, where there are 8+3 armies? Wouldn't it be easier to attack Jiangxi with 6+2 armies?

"This is an aerial photo of the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan defense line."

Huang Gonglue, Chief of Staff of the Fifth Army, spread out a stack of 12-inch photos on the table. Chen Tianheng asked, "How's it going? Are you used to looking at aerial photos to determine the enemy situation now?"

Huang Gonglue: "Aerial photography is timely and intuitive, but it cannot completely replace campaign-level reconnaissance. For example, in determining the defense situation in Changsha, Zhuzhou and Xiangtan, reconnaissance troops combined with aerial photography are the most effective."

Chen Tianheng: "I heard that you've been on the back seat of a reconnaissance plane to conduct reconnaissance on the front lines more than once?"

"Uh, ah," Huang Gonglue hesitated, "I just feel that the magnification of the photo is not as clear as that seen through a telescope. Also, aerial photos are sometimes out of focus, so the photos are blurry."

"Oh, it's not just about wanting to fly," Chen Tianheng joked. "The latest regulations issued by the Military Affairs Department stipulate that senior commanders and chiefs of staff cannot fly without special approval from the General Staff, especially not over enemy-occupied areas. It's a safety issue. What happened before is not subject to this regulation, but it will not be allowed in the future."

The revolutionary army now has a small air force, a dozen aircraft, of which six are in the Hunan direction, all light reconnaissance aircraft. Chenzhou and Hengyang each have a small airport.

The reason why two airports are needed for six planes is because there may be windy or rainy weather at one of the airports, and the planes may not be able to land after flying out.

There are also six light reconnaissance aircraft flying in the Ganzhou direction. Two weeks ago, one of them crashed in an accident; one pilot was rescued, but the other died. This is why the General Staff Headquarters issued a supplementary directive prohibiting senior commanders from boarding aircraft without authorization.

"In our air force, every aircraft, every part, every drop of fuel and lubricant is imported. Not only that, every reconnaissance photo shoot by the aircraft is imported. Even the high-resolution photographic paper used for developing the photos is imported."

"You must remember this: the people have entrusted a great fortune to you, and it is your responsibility to manage it. This is a huge responsibility."

"Also, don't think that the wealth of the people you govern is just this plane itself. You yourselves are also part of that wealth. Think about the cost of training you to become pilots."

At Chenzhou Airport, Chen Tianheng inspected the Air Force's First Reconnaissance Brigade.

Chen Tianheng emphasized this to the pilots and ground crew. Pilot Captain Chang Qiankun saluted and loudly replied, "Yes!"

...In this era, pilots are trained abroad. Even if they were trained in their own aviation schools in the future, the training costs would be similar. Therefore, pilots and ground crew members all understood that their unit was burning through money.

However, there is another reason for the huge sense of responsibility on the shoulders of pilots. Chen Tianheng did not tell them that in the original history, Chen Jitang of Guangdong had built an air force of hundreds of aircraft with the power of a single province.

Guangdong, a province located in the Pearl River Delta, has huge economic potential. The reason why the current coalition government cannot come up with so much money is that construction and economic recovery take up a large part of fiscal expenditure. Unlike Chen Jitang, who only cares about collecting taxes and does not care about construction.

"How familiar are you with the situation in Hunan and surrounding provinces and regions now?" Chen Tianheng asked Chang Qiankun.

"During the three months we were based in Hengyang and Chenzhou, our six aircraft conducted over 300 flights, covering the entire southern Hunan region. We also flew west to Guilin, east to Ganzhou, and north to Changsha, where we landed. However, our most frequent flights were in the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan area."

Chen Tianheng: "Although the AEG C.4 you're equipped with is a second-hand piece from the end of World War I, it's actually a reconnaissance bomber. The original version could carry two 50kg bombs, but the bomb racks and defensive machine guns were removed when it was exported. If its bombing capability is restored, could the reconnaissance squadron conduct a daytime bombing raid on a designated target in Hunan?"

Chang Qiankun: "Yeah, if our planes could be upgraded to bombers, that would be awesome. The pilots of our six crews have all flown over the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Tanzhou area at least a dozen times and are familiar with the terrain. As long as they know where the target is, all six crews can drop their bombs there."

Chen Tianheng: "The aviation repair shop says they can build a custom bomb-hanging and bomb-dropping system, essentially recreating the bomb racks used on the AEG C.4. But there's a problem. By the time your planes return for modification and return to Hunan, I'm afraid there will only be less than a month left for bombing training. Lieutenant Colonel Ebner, I need to develop a training plan within four weeks that will equip reconnaissance crews with the ability to drop bombs horizontally at medium and low altitudes."

William Abner had been here the entire time. He was a former Royal Air Force officer, having served as a major in World War I and retired as a lieutenant colonel. He now worked as a technical advisor to an aircraft repair shop and, in effect, was an aircrew instructor and staff officer for the Revolutionary Army.

"Your Excellency, Chief of Staff, if you want the AEG C.4 to have the ability to accurately bomb ground targets, then it would be best to restore its bomb racks and also build a bombsight yourself."

Chen Tianheng: "The Shaoguan Aviation Repair Factory also has your British technical consultants. They will add more sights."

Ebner: "So, a trained pilot, dropping bombs horizontally at an altitude of 600 meters, can have more than half of their bombs hit a circular area with a diameter of 50 meters."

Chen Tianheng: "The accuracy doesn't seem very high, right?" Ebner: "Yes."

Chen Tianheng: "In 1917, the Royal Air Force had bombers dive at high speed towards their targets at an angle exceeding 45 degrees to the ground, pulling up and dropping bombs at a very close distance to achieve higher hit accuracy."

"Oh, that's a dive bombing, which requires a specialized dive bomber. The AEG C.4 doesn't have the capability to fly with high overloads. If it flies in this trajectory, the reconnaissance plane will fall apart."

Chen Tianheng: "Hmm..."

Ebner: "Do you need to procure custom dive bombers?"

广州联合政府的空军现在有19架飞机,南京政府有117架,其中蒋介石的中央空军有45架，东北空军68架，福建空军4架。

The air forces of both sides primarily focused on reconnaissance, communications, rapid personnel transport, and occasional ground bombing. Although some aircraft were equipped with machine guns, no aerial kills were recorded by either side during the conflict.

Although Chen Tianheng's current requirements for the Air Force were still far from the close-range ground support provided by the Stuka, they were intended to conduct tactical bombing against fixed ground targets, closely coordinated with ground combat. This was already a tactic that surpassed the previous air forces of various domestic forces.

Xiangxi.

Sangzhi County.

The center of the area controlled by He Long's "Xiangxi Autonomous Army".

In Sangzhi County, which has already gained grassroots rural power, during the winter farming off-season, the county party committee and the farmers' association organized some farmers to repair water conservancy facilities. They also organized more than 800 farmers to level and compact the land in the flattest township in Sangzhi County, apparently to create a long playground several hundred meters long.

"Commander He, are we going to build a large playground?" He Long: "No."

"What is this area used for?"

"This area," He Long said, "is used to store something that can replace artillery."

Chapter 26: Feng Yuxiang prepares to make a big move

The Xiangxi Autonomy Movement was very powerful, and the autonomous army formed was also quite large in number, but it was currently impossible to transport mountain artillery over there, so the autonomous army had no artillery.

The General Staff's Operations Department was having a headache formulating its plan. Without field artillery, capturing a county town was difficult, and capturing several in quick succession and reaching Changsha was even more challenging.

The solution Chen Tianheng decided on was to simply build an airport and have the Air Force send a few AEG C.4s there to support the attack with bombing instead of artillery fire.