The Fourth Outstanding Person of Huangpu Military Academy

Chen Tianheng: "I know you were once a member of the Yilietuan peripheral organization, but to be honest, the Yilietuan is now an armed force mainly engaged in assassination and sabotage. This method alone cannot liberate Korea from the Japanese occupation."

Jin Xun: "Yes. Before I went to military school, I was in the Righteous Corps. All I discussed with the other members was who to kill, who was easier to kill, and whether we could get explosives to blow up a Japanese factory. My thinking is very different now, and I'm afraid it's different from the current Righteous Corps members too."

Chen Tianheng: "Establish a Korean Liberation Army?"

Jin Xun: "Yes, yes, that's the National Liberation Army." Chen Tianheng: "That was also not an easy task."

Jin Xun: "Therefore, I think it would be best if the Righteous Corps could settle down in Guangzhou, let its members join the army, and some of them receive formal education at military academies before joining the revolutionary army."

Zhao Shangzhi: "Do you want to wait until China is liberated, then gather the Righteous Army and other Korean national liberation groups to form the Korean National Liberation Army and fight back into Korea? But Lao Yang, there are too few Koreans in China, I mean inland. You are the division commander now. If you want to form a national liberation army of Koreans in China, you will immediately become the regiment commander."

Jin Xun: “This…”

Zhao Shangzhi: "I think that after the revolutionary army liberates China, they should make another effort and cross the Yalu River in one swift move to liberate North Korea as well."

Guangzhou.

"Ishiwara Kanji, Chief of Operations Staff of the Kwantung Army General Staff, Lieutenant Colonel."

On March 23, Ishiwara Kanji arrived at the South Manchuria Railway headquarters and promoted his "Greater East Asia Strategy" and "Manchuria-Mongolia Strategy" to the senior South Manchuria Railway officials and the commanders of the South Manchuria Railway's armed forces. He advocated that Japan should quickly control Manchuria and "accelerate the modernization of the Northeast region."

"In this strategic theory, known as 'Ishihara Kanji's National Policy,' Ishihara Kanji insisted that if Northeast China were put on a similar trajectory as North Korea, it would achieve industrialization within 20 years. Japan itself would benefit from this industrialization, providing abundant resources and food, and become a world-class power."

Zhou Enlai brought the intelligence gathered by the Central Special Intelligence Division in Northeast China. He Shuheng asked: "Why does a lieutenant colonel speak so arrogantly?"

Chen Tianheng: "The rank of Lieutenant Colonel is indeed a mid-level rank in the Japanese Army, corresponding to our Lieutenant Colonel. However, promotions in the Japanese Army are slow. Even a 41-year-old officer like Ishihara Kanji, who graduated from the 30th class of the Army University in 1915, was only a Lieutenant Colonel."

"Another problem for the Japanese army is that the troops stationed in Northeast China and Korea have great autonomy in their operations. If several mid-level officers work together, they could easily plan a major military operation."

Zhou Enlai: "The intelligence department also attaches great importance to this matter, because there are more than one mid-level Japanese military officers stationed in Korea and China who share the same views as Ishihara Kanji."

As Zhao Shangzhi said, even ordinary Northeastern bankers knew that Japan's invasion was inevitable. The Japanese came in 1894, 1900, and 1905, and now in 1930, Japan was about to extend its hand again.

The only uncertainty is when he will come.

He Shuheng: "I think Zhang Zuolin is a very cunning person, both internally and externally. He will not allow the situation to deteriorate to the point of an all-out war with Japan."

Chen Tianheng: "Zhang Zuolin has, with his cunning and shrewdness, dodged many of Japan's attempts to encroach on the Northeast in recent years. However, Japan has been considering an armed invasion and full-scale occupation of the Northeast for a long time. However, the area we currently control is still quite far from the Northeast, and the Party organizations in the Northeast are relatively weak. Therefore, what we need to discuss now is how we should respond if Japan abandons its current encroachment strategy and uses force to forcibly seize the Northeast."

Chen Youren: "But there is no doubt that if Northeast China were occupied by Japan, the power of Chiang Kai-shek's camp would be greatly weakened."

Mao Runzhi: "It's not that simple. If Japan sends troops to invade Northeast China, the whole country will face a major choice: continue the civil war or unite to face foreign enemies. We also have to make a major choice. The response Chen Tianheng mentioned is about this response."

Chen Youren: "Then, General Chen, how do we deal with this?"

Chen Tianheng: "Before the national liberation is complete and the country is unified, if a large-scale foreign invasion occurs, and the invading enemy mainly attacks the areas controlled by the Chiang Kai-shek government, the main problem we will face is that our army may not be able to directly engage the invading enemy."

"To solve this problem, we can start from two aspects."

"First, before the enemy invades, we must expand our controlled area to the point where we can make ground contact with the invading enemy. For example, if the Japanese army were to fully invade Northeast China, we should reach Rehe or the Great Wall."

"Second, we will establish a united front with the Chiang Kai-shek government to resist foreign invasion. Our troops will pass through Chiang Kai-shek's controlled areas to strike the Japanese invaders."

Chapter 66: Infighting within the Guangxi clique, who should I support? Waiting online, urgent

Chen Tianheng proposed two ideas, the second of which was quickly rejected.

If the Japanese army invaded the Northeast, Guangzhou could propose and publicly call on Nanjing to establish a united front, but it was basically certain that Chiang Kai-shek would not agree, or would agree verbally but actually disobey.

The first approach relies on meeting certain external conditions. The most important of these is:

Zhang Zuolin must live.

The Revolutionary Army's Sichuan-Shaanxi Operations Plan

The land corps set out from Xizhan, entered Guizhou via the Hunan-Guizhou Highway (under construction), controlled Zunyi, and then entered Chongqing via the Hunan-Guizhou-Sichuan Highway (under construction).

The Yangtze River Corps' land forces advanced from Changde toward Jingzhou and Yichang, while the waterborne forces advanced from Dongting Lake onto the Yangtze River, reaching Jingzhou and Yichang. Their primary mission was to block the Yangtze River and prevent Chiang Kai-shek's gunboats from reaching Chongqing. Their expanded mission was to utilize the Yangtze River as a logistics route for the Chengdu-Chongqing Campaign.

After the Chengdu-Chongqing Campaign and control of the Chengdu Plain, they entered Shaanxi from Hanzhong and controlled Xi'an, Tongguan and the Guanzhong Plain.

At this point, the revolutionary army will control most of Sichuan and Shaanxi.

Chen Tianheng continued to look north of "Xi'an" on the map. Not too far, 260 kilometers away, Yan'an.

To the east of Yan'an, Yanchang County.

This is the place that Chen Tianheng attaches the most importance to and must occupy in the entire Shaanxi Province: Yanchang Oilfield.

Yanchang is the first place where the Chinese began to extract oil. How many years ago was this the first time? Over 700 years ago.

Yanchang is also the site of China's first modern oil well. In 1905, Shaanxi Governor Cao Hong commissioned Japanese technicians to survey and drill the "Yan No. 1 Well" near the west gate of Yanchang County, producing industrial oil. Unfortunately, this was the only well to have explored and produced oil at the time.

How deep is the Yanyi Well? 81 meters. Drill down more than 80 meters and you'll find oil!

50年代对延长进行全面开发，也发现了不少100米左右甚至不到100米的高产井，50年代末发现的第一个大储油构造在300-500米的深度。所以,延长油田虽然是个小油田，但对30年代的石油开采技术来说,这种深度的油层简直太贴心了。

If the Yanchang area were controlled and the shallow, easily accessible oil was developed, annual production would certainly not reach the 10 million tons/year level of the later Yanchang Oilfield. As for the exact figure, Chen Tianheng, an outsider, made a rough guess: 1000 to 2 tons could be pumped out. With luck, perhaps annual production could reach 5 tons.

This figure is far less than China's current annual imports of petroleum and refined oil products. In 1929, China imported 70 tons of various petroleum products, including 40 tons of kerosene, 14 tons of gasoline, and 10 tons of diesel. However, having tens of thousands of tons of oil production on hand meant that during wartime, when fuel was most needed, China would not be completely deprived.

Following the Sichuan-Shaanxi Campaign was the Hetao-Guisui Campaign, which pushed the front line to the Great Wall. Based on the opening of the Sichuan-Hunan Highway and the Hunan-Guizhou Highway in the second half of 1931, if the entire Northwest Conquest Plan had been completed on schedule, the revolutionary army would have reached the Great Wall by 1933. However, support from the base areas for the revolutionary army was insufficient.

Food for the Great Wall campaign had to be transported from Sichuan, and ammunition had to be transported from Guangdong and Hunan.

Shaanxi cannot provide food support. Now the agricultural system of Shaanxi and the entire northern China is almost finished. In 1928 and 1929, Shaanxi suffered two consecutive years of famine. Now it is the spring of 1930. Although Shaanxi has rained this spring, as expected, a locust plague has arrived.

The famine of 28-30 reduced Shaanxi's population of 1300 million to just over 600 million. Excluding those who fled the famine, the estimated death toll from starvation was between 200 and 500 million. Furthermore, the massive deaths and exodus of people after the disaster left the already dilapidated water conservancy projects unrepaired, hindering Shaanxi's recovery for several years. By 1937, according to Republican statistics, Shaanxi's population was only 1015 million.

China during this era was known as an "agricultural nation," but in reality, agriculture itself was riddled with problems. Even in the south, within the Guangzhou Revolutionary Government's jurisdiction, floods in Wuning County in 1929 triggered widespread mudslides. The United Nations government urgently dispatched 45 kilograms of grain to address the problem. Otherwise, it would have been a "local disaster" that starved tens of thousands of people to death, a disaster recorded only in local annals.

The "Sichuan-Shaanxi Combat Plan" stated that after the revolutionary army entered Shaanxi, it must slow down and provide relief to the victims, or at least distribute some food to the victims wherever the main force passed.

Chen Tianheng closed the Sichuan-Shaanxi combat plan and decided not to look at this combat plan, which he would have to wait eagerly for within a year or two.

"Wen Qiang, call Minister Nie," Chen Tianheng said. "Come watch the comparison test of the two light machine guns this afternoon. See you at Luofu Mountain at 2:30."

"Yes." Wen Qiang answered and walked towards the telephone on his desk. Just as he was about to pick up the receiver, the phone rang.

"I'm Enlai. There's an emergency regarding the Guangxi clique. The Secretariat must report to the Military Commission in person. General Secretary Chen has authorized a special meeting."

Chen Tianheng: "When?"

"Immediately. The meeting will start when everyone is here."

"Yesterday, the military and political commissioner sent by Nanjing arrived in Nanchang and secretly visited the 7th Army and met with Li Mingrui, the commander of the 8th Guangxi Division."

Except for Chen Duxiu, who was unable to return from Changsha, all other members of the Military Commission arrived. Zhou Enlai reported the latest intelligence sent back by the highest-ranking undercover agent and the largest undercover group deployed in Chiang Kai-shek's army.

The commissioner from Nanjing first highly praised Li Mingrui's 8th Gui Division for its performance in the first and second campaigns against the Communists, calling it the most powerful division in the Nationalist Army. The commissioner also stated that Chiang Kai-shek also valued the Gui Army.

The commissioner also said that Huang Shaohong has made great contributions since he took office as Minister of the Interior, which are no less than the contributions of the Guangxi Army on the battlefield. Guangxi has produced many talents and is the cornerstone of the party and the country.

After a long talk, the commissioner asked Li Mingrui in a roundabout way, if your cousin Yu Zuobai becomes the chairman of Guangxi Province, will you support him or the current chairman Huang Xuchu.

Li Mingrui immediately realized that something was wrong. After perfunctorily passing it over, he communicated with other colleagues from the Seventh Army and the 47th Army and discovered that the military and political commissioner was not the only one looking for him.

Zhou Enlai: "We have also received information from our intelligence sources in Nanjing that Chiang Kai-shek intends to 'teach' Li Zongren. Combined with the sudden visit of the military and political commissioner to Li Mingrui and other Guangxi generals, it seems that Chiang Kai-shek is trying to alienate the three Guangxi clique members and separate Huang Shao from Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi."

"Li Mingrui is now anxiously awaiting instructions from the Central Committee." Chen Tianheng: ...

My goodness, Chiang Kai-shek's way of dealing with the Guangxi clique was to stir up internal strife within the clique?

This isn't surprising, however. The three giants of the Li Bai and Huang Gui factions weren't the sworn brothers of the Peach Garden. They each had their own interests and cliques. In the original historical dimension, after the Chiang-Gui War, Chiang Kai-shek successfully divided the three. Li Bai remained a duo, while Huang Shaozi surrendered to Chiang Kai-shek.

Deng Yanda: "Last year, Chiang Kai-shek promoted Huang Shaohong to Minister of the Interior and transferred him from Guangxi to Nanjing. At the time, some speculated that Chiang Kai-shek wanted to leave Guangxi empty so Huang could take advantage of the situation. However, the absence of Li Bai and Huang from Guangxi did not mean Chiang Kai-shek could infiltrate the region. Now the answer has been revealed."

"After Huang Shaohong went to Nanjing, the chairmanship of Guangxi Province was held by Huang Xuchu, who was close to Li Zongren within the Guangxi clique. Chiang Kai-shek wanted to pressure Li Zongren and remove Huang Xuchu from office, turning Huang Shaohong against Li Zongren. He wanted to first replace the Guangxi base with Huang Shaohong's own people, and then force Li Zongren to resign. Chiang Kai-shek would then use the Jin-Yuan offensive to support this. If Li Zongren resigned as commander of the Second Pacification Zone and the Guangxi clique's main forces were willing to obey Huang Xuchu, then Li Zongren would have no foundation at all."

"Huang Xuchu excelled in civil affairs but not in military affairs. Bai Chongxi was the opposite. Li Zongren was a combination of both. Without Li Zongren's Guangxi clique, Guangxi might have remained a solid block, but outside of Guangxi, it posed little threat to Chiang Kai-shek."

"However, on the other hand, Li Zongren was indeed superior to most of Nanjing's senior generals in terms of training troops and fighting. Expelling Li Zongren would have removed a threat to Chiang Kai-shek, and Nanjing's more than one million troops would have been more obedient to Chiang Kai-shek. But he also lost a general with strong overall qualities."

Mao Runzhi: "Whether it allows them to continue to have huge contradictions within themselves or reduces a powerful tool they use to resolve external contradictions, the former will have a more significant effect."

Deng Yanda: "Yes, ... this is a difficult choice, but I am slightly inclined to not let Li Zongren be driven out so easily. Having another capable enemy general on the front line is not the most troublesome thing for us. The greater threat is that Chiang Kai-shek's military and political orders are communicated and enforced."

Ye Ting: "On the Jiangxi front, the Guangxi clique's troops were extremely cautious in front of us, even doing business with us privately. I'm not just talking about Li Mingrui's troops, but other Guangxi clique troops as well. After all, they fought us with their entire main force and suffered heavy losses. They remember this lesson. Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi also remember it. If one of Chiang Kai-shek's close associates had been appointed commander of the Second Pacification Zone, the Jiangxi front would not have been so peaceful."

After discussion, the majority of the Military Commission agreed that Chiang Kai-shek should be prevented from kicking out Li Zongren and dividing and weakening the New Guangxi Clique.

Zhou Enlai: "To prevent Chiang Kai-shek from splitting the Guangxi clique, we can remind him through Li Mingrui."

"Commissioner Deng, Secretary-General Zhou," Chen Tianheng said, "I've just thought this through. Even if we didn't interfere, Chiang Kai-shek's instigation of internal strife within the Guangxi clique would ultimately have been won by Li Zongren."

"Of the three Guangxi clique members, Li Zongren was not only skilled in both military and domestic affairs, but more importantly, he had earned a reputation during the Northern Expedition. If Chiang Kai-shek asked him to resign, Li Zongren would refuse, and Chiang Kai-shek would be powerless to do anything about it, as Nanjing would not dismiss a Northern Expedition commander without cause. Within Guangxi, those who supported Huang Shaozi would, at Chiang Kai-shek's behest, 'expel Li,' but Li Zongren's supporters would counter-expel the new governor of Guangxi who 'expelled Li.'"

"I don't know what the final arrangement will be for Huang Shao Station, but Li Zongren and Chiang Kai-shek can't take it down."

"So, what we need to do is actually to take advantage of this internal conflict within the Guangxi clique. Since we have already determined that Li Zongren will win, let's bet on him."

Nanchang.

The reply Li Mingrui had waited several days for finally arrived. It was secretly delivered to the 8th Guangxi Division by a courier from Fengcheng, the front line of the confrontation between the two sides.

After receiving the letter, Li Mingrui immediately went to the Pacification Zone Office to find Li Zongren. In front of Li Zongren, Li Mingrui not only said that the special commissioner from Nanjing was trying to sow discord, but also mentioned several analysis and conclusions sent from Guangzhou.

"Hmm..." Li Zongren mused. "No wonder the civil affairs officials in Jiangxi Province have been acting against me lately. Turns out the root of the problem lies with the Minister of Civil Affairs in Nanjing. Huang Shaohong, ah, Huang Shaozhan."

Li Mingrui: "Minister Huang is somewhat losing sight of the big picture."

Li Zongren: "I know, that's all. I have my own way of handling the rest." Li Mingrui: "Commander, is there a high-power radio station in the Pacification Zone that can send messages to Nanning? I want to send a telegram to my cousin."

Telegraph lines from Nanning and Guilin to Jiangxi were now operational, but they had to pass through the areas controlled by the Coalition Government. Therefore, the Guangxi clique generally did not use them for military and political messages, but instead used high-powered military radios. When Li Mingrui said he wanted to send a telegram to his cousin Yu Zuobai, Li Zongren immediately understood and summoned the cipher operator from the pacification zone to send the message using the Guangxi clique's own agreed-upon code.

In his telegram, Li Mingrui clearly told Yu Zuobai that Chiang Kai-shek was trying to stir up trouble and incite internal strife. "Cousin, you were previously semi-unemployed, but now Chiang Kai-shek wants you to step out of retirement and become Chairman of Guangxi. Together with Huang Shaoyi, you will form the 'New New Guangxi Clique.' You will take on this position of Chairman. However, if Chiang Kai-shek asks you to 'drive out Li,' you must not agree, because the Guangxi Clique cannot do without Commander Li."

Li Mingrui wrote the telegram in front of Li Zongren. After the telegram was sent, both Li Mingrui and Li Zongren felt relieved.

"Commander Li."

Cheng Siyuan came to the Pacification Office to find Li Zongren.

"Commander Li, a few days ago, a contact I met there came from Fengcheng and found me."

Li Zongren: "Oh? They contacted me again? What's going on?"

Cheng Siyuan: "They didn't say anything else, just gave me a letter and asked me to hand it to you personally."

Chapter 67: I want a light machine gun, and I also want a general-purpose machine gun

"It also has a special development serial number at our Bruno Arsenal. We call it ZB-30."

"Compared to the ZB-26, we made 15 improvements to the ZB-30, not just a change in caliber."

"Bruno Arsenal worked with China with full sincerity to create this masterpiece."

At the test range at the foot of the mountain in Zengcheng, Chen Tianheng saw two candidate models of squad light machine guns: the Ishii No. 7 (ZB-30) and the Shadao-1929.

Before becoming standard equipment, the models were designated by their respective arsenal numbers, with Shijing and Tansha Island being the locations of the First and Second Arsenals, respectively. Once the winner was adopted by the military, it received the production designation QJQ-30.

Chen Tianheng took over the ZB-30 from Bruno's engineer Kralova in Guangzhou. This was not a minor modification of the original ZB-26. There were obvious differences in its appearance from the ZB-26.

The gas tube's starting point has been moved back slightly, but not as much as on the ZB-33 (Bren), and is now slightly in front of the bipod. The grip has a slightly wider angle, and the magazine well is slightly different in shape.

The most obvious difference is the magazine. The 6.5X50mm Arisaka bullet is shorter than the 7.92 Mauser bullet and the magazine is narrower.

弹匣有20发和30发两种。陈天衡实在不知道20发弹匣有什么意义,换成6.5毫米子弹后，这机枪的30发弹匣不算重也不算很长,很好携带。大概是布鲁诺兵工厂觉得直弹匣比较帅。

But that didn't matter. After mass production, the main order would be 30-round magazines. Chen Tianheng inserted a 20-round magazine into the machine gun, while Kralova helped Chen Tianheng check the alignment of the front sight and the wheel-type sight. Chen Tianheng used the semi-automatic mode and fired a magazine of bullets at a target 100 meters away. When the target swung back, everyone in the room applauded and cheered.

These 20 bullets basically hit the center of the target, concentrated in an area slightly larger than a fist, which is similar to the density shot by the professional test shooter during yesterday's accuracy shooting.

Kralová and his assistant, the two Czech engineers, were particularly delighted: This was the intensity commanded by the Chief of the General Staff of the Chinese Army!

"Mr. Kralova, there's no need to be too happy," Nie Rongzhen said. "Our chief of general staff is also a highly skilled soldier."

Sure enough, after Chen Tianheng finished shooting with the ZB-30, he took out the Shadao-1929, loaded 20 rounds into the 25-round magazine, and fired single shots at a distance of 100 meters. The results were also at the test shooter level.

"But the single-shot dispersion of the Sand Island missile looks larger than that of the ZB-30," Chen Tianheng said, comparing the two targets. "Was it the same during yesterday's test firing?"

聂荣臻:“是的。ZB-30的单发射击极其精准,明显胜过沙岛-1929。但有意思的是，2-3发短点射击，ZB-30就和沙岛成绩持平了。”

The first round of comparative testing will last for one month and will involve many items, with single-shot and burst-fire accuracy testing being just one of them.

The test site just received over a dozen boxes of ammunition today, all 6.5mm reloads produced at the Ganzhou Arsenal. One of the tests during the comparison test was to assess the reliability of the two machine guns when using inferior ammunition.

Before the test project is completed, a "data battle" between the two guns can be done.

两者使用同样的弹药，6.5mm有坂尖弹。ZB-30配用20发直弹匣或30发弧形弹匣，沙岛配用25发弧形弹匣。

The total length of ZB-30 is 1150 mm and that of Shadao is 1080 mm.

The weight with bipod and 1 empty magazine is 7.95 kg for ZB-30 and 7.2 kg for Shadao.