The Fourth Outstanding Person of Huangpu Military Academy

The soldiers at the headquarters caught a sheep, put the lamb legs in a pot and stewed them. Soon the aroma of meat wafted over the county government office.

"When will Lao Zhang arrive?" Yang Yuting asked as they warmed themselves by the fire. "The Marshal will arrive in Jianchang tomorrow."

Yang Yuting chuckled coldly and fiddled with the lamb chops on the charcoal fire: "The Marshal is coming to reward me. I have to reward him too."

The soldiers and officers at the headquarters were puzzled. Yang Yuting waved his hand and said, "It's none of your business. Go ahead."

Zhang Zuolin arrived early.

It was just six o'clock in the afternoon when a long line of trucks rumbled in, with Zhang Zuolin's car sandwiched in the middle of the convoy.

The trucks contained food and wine for the troops, but more of them were Fengtian Army soldiers armed with live ammunition. These soldiers got off the trucks and immediately surrounded the Jianchang County Government Office, which was being used as a temporary headquarters.

"Yang Yuting! Xiao Yang, ah, I'm here to reward you!"

Zhang Zuolin walked into the county government office. At this time, Yang Yuting was tied up and held down by several soldiers.

Yang Yuting: "Zhang Huzi, you dare to kill me, do you dare to kill the Japanese?"

Zhang Zuolin: "I can dismiss the Japanese advisors in the Liao Zhen Army."

"Do you think these three brigades only have..." Yang Yuting stopped talking halfway, thinking that since Zhang Zuolin could tie him up, he could naturally tie up all the officers controlled by Japan in these three brigades.

In fact, Zhang Zuolin not only tied up Yang Yuting and a dozen officers bribed by Japan, but also tied up the Japanese advisers in the Zhenliao Army, several of whom were living next door.

There were many Japanese advisers or instructors at the high and middle levels of the Northeast Army. As for this Liao special exercise, if there were no Japanese officers serving as staff officers in the Liao Zhen Army, the Fengtian Army would not have been able to organize this 700-kilometer long-distance march.

Yang Yuting: "Old Zhang, you've offended the Japanese this time, and you've done a terrible job." Zhang Zuolin: "Do you think I don't know what the Japanese are up to? If I don't offend the Japanese this time, we can live in peace in the future. By the way, are you thinking that if you collude with the Japanese, you can take my position? Then I tell you, you're wrong. You don't have any. The Japanese can only scare you and scold you a few times. Do they need people like you?"

Yang Yuting: “…”

"Marshal, the Japanese are under control." Wang Yizhe, commander of the 7th Liao Brigade, reported to Zhang Zuolin.

Among the three brigade commanders of the Zhen Liao Army, Wang Yizhe of the Liao 7th Brigade was with Zhang Zuolin. Wang Yizhe had already known about the plan to eliminate Yang Yuting's power.

Zhang Zuolin: "Use three trucks to send them back to Fengtian. Where's Ziran?" "Here, Marshal!"

Zhang Zuolin sprinkled cumin on the lamb chops and said, "Wang Yizhe, send troops to fetch the officers from the two brigades. I need to reorganize the army in Jianchang. The Zhen Liao Army will be stationary in Jianchang for the next month."

Guangzhou.

"How should I evaluate it? I think it can be described as Zhang Zuolin's self-rescue. An extreme operation."

News of the "Liaoxi Mutiny" didn't reach the nation until a week later. Zhang Zuolin announced that Yang Yuting was planning a rebellion and was suppressing it. Besides executing Yang Yuting on the spot, he also executed a brigade commander and two regimental commanders. Afterwards, he took control of the three brigades of the Zhenliao Army participating in the exercise and conducted a thorough investigation.

Upon learning of the Liaoxi mutiny, the Military Commission and the General Staff were shocked. After a simple analysis and assessment, they basically confirmed that this was good news.

Chen Tianheng: "Yang Yuting was bribed by the Japanese. He is also the chief advisor of the Northeast Security Command. He is the most likely person to take down Zhang Zuolin and his brothers and take over. Now that Yang Yuting has been eliminated and the three brigades in Jianchang have been purged, Zhang Zuolin will have at least three brigades that are not infiltrated by the Japanese, and his own safety will be guaranteed."

Zhou Shidi: "But Yang Yuting was shot on the spot. It is said that more than 30 other officers were also shot at the same time. This is simply too crude."

Chen Tianheng: "The Fengtian Army is different from us, even from Chiang Kai-shek's army and the old Beiyang army. The origins of this army are bandits. To this day, the Fengtian Army still has a very strong 'law of the jungle'. Between superiors and subordinates, as long as they think they have a good chance of winning and can kill the other party, they will act without hesitation."

Liu Bocheng: "The three brigades that Zhang Zuolin purged may be deployed in Fengtian, Jinzhou, and Shanhaiguan to protect the road leading to the interior."

Chen Tianheng nodded in agreement. "Another reason is that the South Manchuria Railway is owned by the Japanese. The line from Fengtian to Changchun and Harbin can be cut off at will. But the Japanese cannot control the line from Shenyang to Pingjin, at least not the entire line."

Zhou Shidi: "By eliminating Yang Yuting, Zhang Zuolin didn't offend the Japanese. On the contrary, he even expressed goodwill to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, saying they could consider allowing the Japanese to make more investments in Northeast China. This small reversal should keep him safe for at least a year."

Liu Bocheng: "General Chen, I have been back home for the past few days and have read the General Staff's Sichuan-Guizhou Operation Plan. I feel that we have not taken into account the internal strife among the Sichuan warlords. In fact, taking advantage of the internal strife among the Sichuan warlords to penetrate the Sichuan Basin will greatly reduce the resistance of military operations."

Chen Tianheng: "There is indeed a conflict between the two Lius in the Sichuan Army, but it is unlikely that Liu Xiang and Liu Wenhui will develop to the point of fighting each other this year or next."

The last major internal struggle of the Sichuan Army, the "War of the Two Lius" instigated by Liu Xiang and Liu Wenhui, took place from the end of 1932 to the beginning of 1933. In other words, throughout 1931, Sichuan was in a process of accumulating and escalating contradictions.

Liu Bocheng: "What if we take the initiative to instigate some trouble?"

Chapter 75: Being able to borrow money is a skill

On November 1, the Zhuzhou-Shaoguan section of the Guangdong-Hankou Railway was fully opened to traffic.

This is the first railway built and put into use in Guangdong since the coalition government came to power three years ago.

From next year, 1931, the number of new railways built in these two and a half provinces will increase, as the coalition government now has several railways under construction:

The Shaoguan-Ganzhou Railway connects the mining area in southern Jiangxi and is also an important transportation artery for military mobilization.

The Guangzhou-Huizhou-Meizhou Railway connects eastern Guangdong.

Construction had already begun on the Hunan section of the Hunan-Guangxi Railway, and Li Zongren had also mobilized resources in Guangxi to begin work on the Guangxi section. Guangzhou promoted the project with great fanfare, while the Nanjing Ministry of Transportation kept quiet but tacitly approved.

There is also the Guangzhou-Jiangmen Suijiang Railway, which connects to the Xinhui Railway, incorporating this previously isolated railway in southwest Guangzhou into the railway network.

Initially, the coalition government hesitated to immediately begin construction on the railway, as it would have required a massive bridge across the Xijiang River, nearly as long as the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge. However, in August 1930, a group of three American engineering firms approached the Chinese government, offering them the technology and bank loans to build the bridge. The Chinese government agreed to share in the profits after the railway was completed, and the railway would be built.

So on November 8, one week after the opening of the Guangdong-Hankou Railway, the construction of the Guangzhou-Jiangmen Railway was announced to have begun.

This railway had enormous economic significance. Xinning and Huicheng were prosperous regions in Guangdong, second only to Guangzhou. Not only were agriculture and commerce flourishing, but Xinning even boasted an ammonia plant. This imported 6500-ton synthetic ammonia unit was completed in 1927, just a few months after the Yongli Synthetic Ammonia Plant in Tianjin.

Secondly, it had a significant impact on Guangdong's military defense planning. With the completion of the Suijiang Railway, the distance from Guangzhou to Yangjiang, over 200 kilometers, would allow enemy troops, regardless of where they landed, to be crushed by the rushing heavy artillery regiments while struggling in the muddy beaches. Armored divisions could then be deployed and swept away in a single tactical assault. With the Suijiang Railway and the Guangzhou-Huizhou-Meizhou Railway in place, the revolutionary army's only remaining task was air defense.

"The groundbreaking ceremony is finally over! I have to go back quickly."

Mao Runmin kept checking his watch during the second half of the groundbreaking ceremony for the Suijiang Railway. Fortunately, the event concluded on schedule, and he immediately packed up his briefcase, paper, and pen and left.

"Are you going to pick up the kids from school?" Chen Tianheng saw Mao Runmin's anxious look and followed up with a question: "Let's go together, let's go together."

Dongguan Primary School.

"Big brother and sister-in-law are in a cold war, and the younger brother suffers, eh hehe."

Mao Runmin held Mao Anying in his left hand and Mao Yuanzhi in his right hand, both of whom were in the first grade. Mao Anying, who was in the second grade, was skipping and walking in front.

Chen Tianheng: "It's not really a cold war, it's just that both of us are a little too busy with work."

Mao Runmin: "Among the members of the coalition government's standing committee, Runzhi spends the most time away from home, spending most of the year away from Guangzhou. Kaihui, if you say she doesn't have any objections, you'd be lying. She has three children to look after, and even with a nanny, it's exhausting. It was unbearable, and neither of them could convince the other, so the eldest sister-in-law also left Renwa behind to work away from home. Now it was fair."

Chen Tianheng: "So, Sister Kaihui applied for the job at the Hong Kong office herself?"

"Yes. On purpose."

Mao Anying and Mao Anying were now being taught by Mao Runmin, as Mao Yuanzhi was of similar age and attended the same primary school. Mao Anying was being taught by Mao Runqin, as Mao Chuxiong was of similar age.

Mao Runqin's job is not easy now. As the Director of Academic Affairs of Huangpu, although he does not have to travel, he is in charge of a lot of trivial matters.

"I've prepared gifts for you three. You'll definitely like them. Come, Yuanzhi, this is yours."

Chen Tianheng handed a Mickey Mouse comic book to Mao Yuanzhi, who ran away with the book in surprise.

Chen Tianheng: "Mao Anqing, this is The Adventures of Tintin, the first part of the collection that just finished."

Mao Anqing also cheered. The remaining gift was for Mao Anying.

"Hey, Kishi, this is a gift for you: '1000 Fun Algebra Problems'. It's really good. See? It's fun."

"The coalition government is now receiving a lot of capital inflows, and the Guangzhou-Jiangmen Railway is an unplanned foreign investment project. People are now saying the coalition government is $1 million in debt, making it a "debtor government." But in addition to government debt, the influx of foreign capital has also exceeded $2 million."

After sending the children away, Chen Tianheng and Mao Runmin talked about business, of course, it was still about money.

"Runmin, this calculation is wrong," Chen Tianheng shook his head and said, "Government debt is considered a liability, but the money invested in the United Government's domestic investment is not a liability."

Mao Runmin: "But if these foreigners come to invest and lose money or go bankrupt, wouldn't that trigger a series of problems?"

Chen Tianheng: "Investors are naturally prepared for losses; business always has its ups and downs. Cleaning up after a bankruptcy is certainly necessary, but we have to consider that if the foreign-funded factory never existed in the first place, the workers would simply be back to where they were a few years ago. And they're not actually back to square one; at least they've made money over the past few years and have become skilled workers trained in modern factories."

"Moreover, given the current situation, the prospects for various industries within the coalition government in the next few years are good, much better than those of similar industries abroad."

Mao Runmin: "But I've recently read a lot about the Soviet Union. They were also engaged in large-scale construction, but in 1930, the Soviet Union didn't have much debt. For such a large country, and an industrial country, its debt was only over 7000 million US dollars."

"Well," Chen Tianheng said, "Runmin, maybe you should think about it this way. The Soviet Union is quite envious of us right now. If they can borrow money, they would also like to borrow money."

The Soviet Union is implementing its first five-year plan, and now is the third year.

The Soviet Union's "big construction" also accelerated with the Great Depression, but what Mao Runmin said was indeed true. The Soviet Union did not borrow a large amount of money from the West.

The Soviet Union used cash or short-term dismantling transactions, which was equivalent to exchanging money for goods.

Cash also included gold. The Soviet Union was a major gold producer, meaning the Soviet central government would have an additional 80-100 tons of gold equivalent in foreign exchange each year to purchase machinery and equipment from abroad. Therefore, the Soviet era continued to issue the so-called gold ruble (Chervin voucher), which was a gold exchange certificate that Russia and the Soviet Union promised to redeem unconditionally.

In addition to gold, there were also timber, grain, and various minerals. The Soviet Union also followed this trading model: sell them, exchange them for money, use the money to buy things, and then ship them back.

Thanks to the Soviet Union's vast territory and abundant resources, they were able to use this model to spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year to purchase machinery and equipment from the West. However, the Soviets did not refuse Western loans. After all, selling resources and food was a big hassle, and the main problem was that they could not get loans.

The West had only one model for lending or investing in the Soviet Union: using expected resource export revenue as collateral. For example, I could give you $1200 million, and the collateral would be your expected future grain export revenue. You'd export $300 million worth of grain annually for the next five years, and repay the loan in five years.

But in fact, there should be a second model, the expected profit in the future.

This included investments to generate profits from factories, as well as partial loans to the Guangzhou Coalition Government. The Guangzhou Coalition Government promised a certain annual growth rate in future fiscal revenue. Western banks agreed with this expected growth rate and issued loans. The Coalition Government used these loans to build roads and bridges and improve urban infrastructure. Within a year or two, the Coalition Government's fiscal revenue indeed saw rapid growth.

With current fiscal revenue levels, repaying the 1928 loan is actually quite easy. Mao Runmin stated, "From January to September this year, Soviet imports increased by 40% compared to last year, with the majority of imports consisting of machinery. A simple estimate suggests their investment in industry could reach $300 million this year, while our total industrial investment is only 250 million yuan, or $120 million."

Chen Tianheng: "That's a very high number, Runmin. Our total industrial investment has reached 40% of the Soviet Union's?"

Mao Runmin: "40% is enough. But we don't have a foundation. The Soviet Union improved upon the foundations of Tsarist Russia, and much of our investment is supplementing the construction work the Soviet Union had already completed during the Tsarist era."

Chen Tianheng: "That's right."

Mao Runmin: "Our high investment scale is achieved on the basis of cutting other expenditures, including military spending. In fact, when the Ministry of Finance was formulating the plan, we were most worried about your opinion, because it meant that the revolutionary army could not expand for the next two years. We could improve equipment and enhance the combat effectiveness of the current troops, but the field army would have to maintain the size of eight armies. Fortunately, you firmly support us."

Chen Tianheng: "From a long-term perspective, if we invest now in infrastructure, the ceiling for the future revolutionary army will be higher. You must know that the proportion of military spending in the coalition government's fiscal expenditures is already lower than the proportion of military spending in the Chiang Kai-shek government's fiscal revenue. This difference will become more obvious in a few years."

Mao Runmin: "So the ratio of our field army to the surrounding enemy forces was 1:3, and to Chiang Kai-shek's entire army was 1:5."

Chen Tianheng: "But we are not afraid of the 1:3 numerical disadvantage."

Mao Runmin: "The revolutionary army's combat power advantage is probably the biggest economic card the coalition government currently holds."

Chapter 76: I Open a Pharmacy in Hubei, Henan and Anhui

"Report to the commander, Su Yu is here to report!"

Su Yu, the newly appointed commander of the 11th Division of the Fourth Army, saluted, and Chen Kui returned the salute.

"Yes, Su Yu." Chen Kang looked at his new subordinate: "We met during the Second Counter-Encirclement and Suppression Campaign and even spoke on the phone."

粟裕:“是滴。那是4月9日晚上,我为了通知第四军更改吉安到萍乡的行军道路,打电话到了第四军军部,你接的电话。另外4月28日总参17号令的电报是我签发的。”

Chen Sai: "Were you the most active staff officer in the General Staff Operations Department during that period?"

Su Yu: "It depends on the time period. Sometimes it's not me."

Su Yu served as a staff officer in the Operations Department of the General Staff for one year and nine months, which exceeded the usual military and political inspection period for division-level commanders.

This was largely due to the praise Su Yu received from his two former chiefs of operations, Chen Mingren and Zhou Shidi, for his campaign planning abilities. Su Yu inspected the campaign plans for several key areas of the revolutionary army and revised them to reflect actual conditions, taking into account more factors and resulting in more rational battle plans.

Since Zhou Shidi and Chen Mingren both wanted Su Yu to work in the Operations Department for a longer period of time, Chen Tianheng allowed Su Yu to stay in Guangzhou for another year.

"Before I knew it, over a year had passed since the Second Anti-Encirclement and Suppression Campaign. In another week, we'll be talking about 'the Second Anti-Encirclement and Suppression Campaign conducted two years ago,'" Chen Kui lamented. "Before I joined the revolutionary army, I thought our revolutionary cause might take a long time, more than a decade, or even decades, to triumph. Now, the revolution certainly can't be won in a short time, but I didn't expect the process to be one of repeated defeats and reversals, but rather one of fighting for a while and then resting for a while."

Su Yu: "The Military Commission is the baton of the revolutionary army. We will fight wherever the baton points. If the baton tells us to pause, we will train and strengthen the army."

Chen Kui: "Yes. Training is the most important thing for the Fourth Army right now. Our arsenal has delivered a lot of new equipment to the Fourth Army. Not only do we have to start over with training and tactics research, but in order to integrate the new equipment into the troops' combat system, even the Fourth Army's organization must change."

Su Yu: "I have reviewed the new combat regulations at the Operations Department. I have also learned about the performance of the newly deployed equipment from the General Logistics Department. I am now looking forward to implementing these matters in the 11th Division."

"It will be implemented, but there's one more thing we need to do first," Chen Kui said. "You, change your clothes, go to the playground, and run five kilometers."

Su Yu: "Ah?"

Chen Yuan: "It is the tradition of the Fourth Army that the first order given to newly recruited officers by the commander is to run five kilometers."

"The Fourth Army still has this tradition." Su Yu said in confusion.

Chen Kui nodded confidently: "Yes, this is a rule established when our General Ye was here. No one knows why, but we just have to follow the tradition."

Although the revolutionary army now maintains the organization of 8 armies, the number of people under the command of each unit has increased slightly.

员额增加主要是因为新装备—―三款迫击炮下发部队之后必须更改编制。比如步兵连过去是三个步兵排和一个重机枪排,现在重机枪排改为机炮排，增加了2门60毫米迫击炮，编制从30人、3马变成48人、5马。

The infantry battalion is basically unchanged now. The 82mm mortar replaced the original 80mm Stokes mortar. Because of the reduced weight, there can even be one less person to carry the gun. However, the manpower saved is used to carry the shells.

The infantry regiment added a regimental heavy mortar company equipped with 100mm mortars; the original flat-fire artillery company remained unchanged, equipped with Taisho 11-year type 37mm flat-fire guns.

Chen Tianheng predicted that the recoilless gun would be successfully developed in 32-33. By then, the regimental flat-fire artillery company would be replaced with a 75mm recoilless gun. The number of personnel would not change much, but a 57mm recoilless gun platoon would be added to the infantry battalion.

FN的狙击步枪列装后，每个步兵连的编制还会增加6人，三个2人狙击组。不过,如果将来通用机枪取代马克沁重机枪,每挺机枪的编制会从9人1马削减到5人1马。

到1931年1月,配发新三款迫击炮的有三个师:1军1师，4军10师,还有鄂豫皖的6军16师。粟裕接手的11师其实还没有新式迫击炮，只是在1931年要把编制先调整好，借用第10师的迫击炮训练,下半年接收新炮。

Although the production of mortars is simpler than that of barreled artillery, it is not possible to equip more than 20 divisions with new guns with a wave of the hand.

"Chen Mingren, didn't you say you weren't afraid of flying? Why did you take the land route back to Guangzhou this time?"

Chen Mingren: "General, I mainly want to take a ride on the newly opened Guangdong-Hankou Railway..."