The Fourth Outstanding Person of Huangpu Military Academy

Sure enough, I saw it.

Huang Feihong was born in Foshan Town, Nanhai. He practiced martial arts and medicine from a young age, mastering techniques such as the Double Flying Lead, Mother-and-Child Swords, Wulang Bagua Staff, Arhat Robe, Shadowless Kick, Iron Wire Fist, Single and Double Tiger Claws, I-shaped Subduing Tiger Fist, Tiger-Crane Double Form Fist, and Drunken Fist. He was also a master of lion dancing, earning him the nickname the Guangzhou Lion King.

Medical skills are the way Huang Feihong supports his family and the main part of the Huang family business. Bao Zhilin is the medical clinic he opened.

Wong Fei-hung is 78 years old this year, but he is still in good spirits.

Speaking of looks,... well, Jet Li's version of Wong Fei-hung doesn't look very similar, and neither does Zhao Wenzhuo's version. The most realistic film and television version of Wong Fei-hung is Sammo Hung (Jackie Chan: Around the World in 80 Days).

"Martial arts are just about getting young people to move their legs and hands. If they practice well, it can improve their health. They're not really about getting them to fight."

Huang Feihong said, I don’t want to be a martial arts master.

Chen Tianheng: "I remember you were a martial arts coach for the Guangzhou militia."

"I taught martial arts to the copper and iron workers at Qiqifu, and also to the militia of the Sanlan Industrial Park. It was just to get them to move their legs. The Sanlan Industrial Park was able to hold its own because Mr. Gu took the lead in funding and bought forty breech-loading rifles for the militia. Those breech-loading rifles fired very quickly."

Huang Feihong was not willing to talk too much about martial arts, so Chen Tianheng had to change the subject.

This was because in 1923, Wong Fei-hung's eldest son, Wong Hon-sum, had a conflict with someone while staying at an inn while on escort duty. The man, unable to defeat him with fists and feet, assassinated Wong Hon-sum with a gun. Wong Fei-hung was deeply saddened and stopped teaching martial arts to his sons and grandsons, and rarely discussed the art anymore.

After greeting and chatting, Huang Hanxi took Chen Tianheng to visit Baozhilin.

Baozhilin is a medical clinic, but it is difficult to define whether it is Chinese medicine or Western medicine.

Its medical practice primarily focused on treating injuries and setting bones. Guangdong people are generally thin, and Guangzhou has a particularly high number of coolies. Many dock workers, less than 1 meters tall, were carrying sacks weighing over 6 kilograms to and from the boats. The slightest misstep would inevitably lead to injuries. Consequently, Bao Zhilin's business was quite prosperous.

Yao Bao Zhi Lin also makes its own medicine. Behind the clinic is a workshop or small pharmaceutical factory where Chinese medicinal herbs are ground with a grinder, mixed according to the prescription, and packed into Bao Zhi Lin's signature tissue paper bags.

Then add a small spoonful of aspirin to the paper bag and seal the bag.

Boil water and drink it to treat colds and fevers.

This small pharmaceutical factory opened Chen Tianheng's eyes. But what opened his eyes even more was that Huang Feihong and Huang Hanxi were willing to accept the concept of "combining Chinese and Western medicine."

"This medicine must be selling well, right?"

Huang Hanxi: "Of course it sells well. If you don't crush the medicine, you have to boil it in a pot for a long time. But for this medicine, you put it in and boil the water and you can drink it. The medicinal flavor will be in the soup at this time. And drinking this will reduce the fever immediately."

Chen Tianheng: "This bag of medicine is selling well and is very effective. The Baozhilin brand is well-known throughout Xiguan. Master Huang, your small pharmaceutical factory should be expanded. Expand it into a large one, and then become Feihong Pharmaceutical Group. The current Chinese medicine preparation can be upgraded and upgraded, and in the future you can even develop new medicines, no, new prescriptions."

Huang Hanxi: "I do have this idea, but expanding the business is not easy. It is difficult to save money."

Chen Tianheng: "The taxes on businesses in Guangzhou have been quite heavy in recent years."

"Of course I'm asking. Taxes are astronomical. It's good enough to cover expenses."

Chen Tianheng: "If outsiders inject capital, the money problem will be solved, and then other problems will be solved, right?"

Huang Hanxi: "Commander Chen, are you saying that... the revolutionary government wants to invest?"

"Not the Guangzhou Revolutionary Government," Chen Tianheng shook his head. "If you're thinking of doing that, I'll contact them right away. In a few days, a Hong Kong company called 'Shadow Investment' will be calling to discuss a capital injection."

"Hong Kong company?!"

Chen Tianheng: "Yes."

Huang Hanxi became excited. "If a Hong Kong company comes to invest, then I want to open a Baozhilin branch in Hong Kong, and build the new pharmaceutical factory there. You know Guangzhou Chenliji, right? It's very famous in our clinic."

……

After leaving Baozhilin, Chen Tianheng rushed to the post office and sent a telegram to Chen Ying in Hong Kong.

"Yingzhe Investment" is the company established by Chen Ying in Hong Kong.

The Chen Li Ji mentioned by Huang Hanxi is another medical clinic in Guangzhou, founded in 1599 (the 27th year of the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty). However, Chen Li Ji's shop was destroyed by war in the late Qing Dynasty. After its reconstruction, the heavy taxes imposed by the Republic of China made it difficult for pharmacies to survive. Therefore, in 1922, Chen Li Ji opened a branch in Hong Kong, which has since surpassed its main branch in Guangzhou in terms of profits and is now the envy of the Guangzhou medical community.

Today, the main industries of Hong Kong's Chinese businessmen are still in trade and manufacturing. For example, Chen Gengyu, a Hong Kong tycoon in the early 20th century, mainly engaged in shipping and investment. In 1900, he turned to support the anti-Qing revolution and donated one million Hong Kong dollars to the revolutionary party's official newspaper "China Daily" chaired by Chen Shaobai, and gave Chen Shaobai a house.

There is also the Nanyang Tobacco Company, whose actual capital reached 20 million yuan in the 2000s.

Although Chenliji developed better in Hong Kong than in Guangzhou, its capital was still an order of magnitude lower than that of the Nanyang Tobacco Company.

But then again, there are few Chinese pharmaceutical companies operating in Hong Kong, so this is a huge opportunity.

"Regarding the Chinese medicine and Chinese patent medicine business, regardless of our investment proportion, the operation can be handed over to the Huang family; as for the Western medicine research and production business, we should set our own direction and operate it ourselves, only borrowing the name of Po Chi Lam or Wong Fei Hung."

In the telegram, Chen Tianheng added this sentence.

"The manager has already left for Guangzhou. What's the point of developing Western medicine?"

The telegram sent by Chen Tianheng was particularly long, and Chen Ying's reply used the typical reduced-word syntax of the telegraph era.

The last sentence of the telegram showed that she understood Chen Tianheng's message, but she didn't fully understand it. What was the development and production of Western medicine?

Are you talking about developing Western medicine?

Who would do this kind of thing in China today?

Chapter 51

1924 1 Month 30 Day.

The drill ground of the Whampoa Military Academy.

The National Revolutionary Army's departure ceremony for the Eastern Expedition was held at 9 a.m.

"Go! March!" "Salute!"

"Down with the warlords!" "Down with the warlords!"

"Down with the imperialists!" "Down with the imperialists!"

The entire Whampoa Military Academy 1st Regiment marched past the reviewing stand. Regimental Commander He Yingqin walked in front, followed by the 1st Battalion of the 1st Regiment, with Chen Tianheng at the head of the battalion.

There were 358 people in the entire battalion, a quarter of whom were students from the first class of Whampoa Military Academy, and the rest were new recruits recruited three months ago.

Following Chen Tianheng's command, the entire battalion began to march in Russian style. Although they couldn't look back to see how their troops were marching, judging from the sound of hundreds of feet stamping on the ground, they were marching to a reasonable level.

After all, I had modified my training schedule, cutting the drill time in half to free up time for tactical and technical training. Fortunately, using the PLA's 21st-century drill training method, I could quickly correct the recruits' habitual missteps, saving a significant amount of time, so I considered it "barely passable."

However, what was "barely ok" in Chen Tianheng's eyes was an incredibly powerful army in the eyes of everyone in the viewing platform.

"Such military bearing, such spirit! Great, great, wonderful! We are truly worthy of being the Party's first army!"

When the first battalion passed by, Chiang Kai-shek was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling.

"The party army has indeed taken on a new look. It is obvious that it is no longer the warlord army of the past. With the support of ideology, the army will inevitably undergo a complete transformation." Wang Jingwei also gave a positive evaluation.

Liao Zhongkai: "With five such teaching groups, it will be no problem for our revolutionary army to unify Guangdong!"

……

After the 1st and 2nd Teaching Regiments were reviewed, Chiang Kai-shek stepped forward and read the "Declaration of the Eastern Expedition", saying that the troops would be divided into three groups to attack Chen Jiongming.

From the meeting of the Kuomintang's Supreme Military Commission on December 28 to the departure today, a month passed. What finally made the revolutionary government decide to march east was that Chen Jiongming launched another attack.

On January 14, Chen Jiongming's troops entered Shajiao Fort. Although the river defense artillery here was broken, Shajiao Fort was also a key pass leading to Guangzhou.

From the 14th to the 16th, another Guangdong rescue army of Chen Jiongming set out from Dongguan and occupied Boluo, Shilong and Shitan, which is also very close to Guangzhou.

Faced with a powerful enemy, both the various factions of the National Founding Army and the Kuomintang temporarily stopped their disputes and united to deal with Chen Jiongming.

Chiang Kai-shek was the most resolute in his attitude towards war. For this reason, he argued with the Yunnan Army, the Guangxi Army, and other factions one by one, and finally made these factions agree to send troops. However, the Yunnan-Guangxi Army also put forward a condition that the commander-in-chief of this Eastern Expedition could not be Chiang Kai-shek himself.

Chiang Kai-shek had no choice but to angrily hand over the command to Xu Chongzhi of the Guangdong Army, who served as the commander-in-chief of the right wing army. Unexpectedly, the day before the expedition, Commander-in-Chief Xu Chongzhi ordered the right wing army commander to be replaced by Zhang Minda, commander of the Second Division of the Guangdong Army.

So now Chiang Kai-shek could only command two Whampoa Training Corps of about 3,000 people.

During this Eastern Expedition, the Guangzhou Revolutionary Government deployed a force, reportedly numbering 5, but actually numbering approximately 4. The troops were divided into three routes. The Left Route (also known as the Northern Route) consisted of Yang Ximin's Yunnan Army, opposing Lin Hu's Guangdong Rescue Army, which was attacking Heyuan, Xingning, and Wuhua County. The Central Route, composed of the Guangxi Army and a portion of the Yunnan Army, laid siege to Huizhou City. The Right Route, comprised of 3000 Whampoa Student Army soldiers and 3000 troops from the Second Division of the Jianguo Guangdong Army, opposed Hong Zhaolin's Guangdong Rescue Army, which was operating in Dongguan, Danshui, Pingshan, and Hailufeng.

The 40,000-strong Eastern Expedition Army had to face Chen Jiongming's Guangdong Rescue Army of about 60,000, of which the 6,000-strong Right Route Army was facing Hong Zhaolin's army of about 10,000.

However, compared to the suppression of the Merchant Corps three months earlier, the Whampoa Student Army now had artillery. At the end of last year, the Soviet Union donated six mountain cannons, forming an artillery company. This was a treasure, and it was directly under the command of the Eastern Expedition Right Route Army Headquarters.

The existence of an artillery unit is also due to the establishment of the artillery department of the second phase of the Whampoa Military Academy. Of course, this does not mean that the students of the second phase of the artillery department can now use artillery. At most, they can help pull the gun rope. The six mountain guns are mainly operated by the instructors of the Whampoa Military Academy, that is, Soviet advisers and several instructors from the Baoding Military Academy.

……

"We'll be leaving Changzhou Island on February 3rd," Chen Tianheng said. "Jiang Xianyun, Xu Xiangqian, let's go and see if the supplies the supply battalion needs are ready."

During this Eastern Expedition, the ammunition supplies for the entire regiment were transported/stored by the Quartermaster Battalion of the Teaching Regiment. After the soldiers had used up their ammunition, they would go to the point set up by the Quartermaster Battalion to collect it. The daily food was collected by the cooking squad of each company from the Quartermaster Battalion, and then they would come back to cook it.

At the supply camp, Chen Tianheng first asked how much rice, flour, meat, and vegetables they had brought. It was OK, enough to last for 15 days. If the battle wasn't over in 15 days, they would have to ship more from the rear or purchase more locally.

"Only 8,000 grenades?" Chen Tianheng frowned. "That's a bit too few. I think the military academy has 50,000 to 60,000 grenades in stock!"

Quartermaster: "Eight thousand isn't enough? Each infantryman in the regiment gets eight! And you're still carrying four!"

Chen Tianheng: "Brother, we've used up four grenades in one charge. This Eastern Expedition involves more than one battle, and we have to capture city after city. You need to bring at least another four thousand grenades."

"There are no more carts. Unless you get me four more carts and four more horses."

"That's not a problem. The military academy still has some left. Let me take a look..." Chen Tianheng flipped through the inventory and looked at the bullets on another page. "Brother, I have to ask you, are there any tracer bullets in the ammunition depot?"

"What? What's a tracer bullet?"

Chen Tianheng: "It's the kind of bullet that has phosphorescent light on the tail, leaving a bright trail when fired. The outer packaging of the bullet box has words on it. The Russian word should be трассер."

"I don't understand. I don't know Russian."

Chen Tianheng: "Then, sir, I want to go in and look for it myself."

Relying on the fact that he was Chiang Kai-shek's "favorite general", Chen Tianheng squeezed into the piles of supplies and carefully checked the ammunition boxes and the outer packaging.

Tracer bullets were first used on the battlefield in 1915. The British, French, and German armies on the Western Front quickly discovered their usefulness, and their widespread use quickly followed.

Because infantrymen on the battlefield need to indicate targets to their comrades, whistles are impossible, and even if spoken words are audible, it's difficult to clearly describe them. In this case, the squad leader fires a burst of tracer bullets, and wherever the bullets land, the entire squad's firepower team, assault team, and various rifles, machine guns, and submachine guns all fire in unison. It's simple and effective.

By the way, the current firearms equipment of the Whampoa Training Corps is very ridiculous. There are three types of full-power rifle bullets with similar uses: Japanese 6.5mm bullets for rifles, 7.92 bullets for Madsen light machine guns, and 7.62 bullets for Russian Maxim heavy machine guns.

"Damn it, the Russians didn't give us tracer bullets!" After walking around the piles of 7.62X54R bullet boxes twice, Chen Tianheng couldn't find any tracer bullets.

Let's look at the 7.92 round. If neither of these ammunitions had tracer rounds, then you're basically done for. Bolt-action rifles fire tracer rounds one shot at a time, making it difficult to identify targets. And you can't have the squad leader, who is usually the most experienced in the squad, holding a large bolt-action rifle while others use the machine gun.

However, looking at the Chinese characters "Shijing Arsenal" on the pile of 7.92 bullet boxes sticking out from the ground, Chen Tianheng wanted to give up. There should be no arsenal in the country that can produce tracer bullets.

"You said China's arsenals can't make tracer bullets yet?" Xu Xiangqian heard Chen Tianheng muttering and suddenly asked the quartermaster, "Sir, do we have any genuine German 79 bullets in our large reserve?"

"There's a batch. We need to look for them in the back."

A few people left the yard and went to the warehouse inside to search. Sure enough, in the far corner of the warehouse, dozens of neatly stacked boxes of 7.92 ammunition were printed in German. And among these boxes of ammunition, one in every five boxes contained tracer bullets.

At this time, because the ammunition boxes did not contain pre-loaded belts or magazines but loose bullets, the ammunition was stored in one box of tracer bullets for every five boxes of ammunition, and then shipped to the front line for soldiers to assemble themselves. This was also the case with the ammunition that China purchased in bulk from German war surplus supplies.

……

"call!"

"Hey!"

Chen Tianheng, Jiang Xianyun and Xu Xiangqian each carried a box of bullets back to the First Battalion of the Teaching Regiment.

Jiang Xianyun: "We have six light machine guns, and each one can get half a box of tracer bullets."

Chen Tianheng: "It should be enough. It's all the fault of that quartermaster who was lazy. He didn't even list tracer ammunition as a separate type of ammunition. He just randomly delivered ammunition to everyone who came to collect it. I was so scared that I quickly put the ammunition box on my shoulder. This is too much. Only our battalion can really use tracer ammunition now."

Xu Xiangqian: "By the way, Boss Chen, when we were leaving, you fell behind and what did you talk about with the quartermaster?"

"We didn't talk much, just expressed our gratitude for his extra help today."

Chen Tianheng said something perfunctorily and changed the subject.

He had made preparations before going to the supply yard of the baggage camp today, so before carrying the ammunition box away, he chatted with the quartermaster for a few words, and then handed him 20 silver dollars wrapped in paper.

"Chen Tianheng!"

"To!"

He Yingqin came to the first battalion, and in a hurry.

"The situation has changed. We must set out early tomorrow morning," He Yingqin said. "After crossing the river to Guangzhou, we will all go to the Guangzhou-Kowloon Railway Station and board the train directly to Dongguan."

"Yes!" Chen Tianheng responded, "Instructor He, did the Guangdong Army capture Dongguan ahead of time?"

"They didn't fight so quickly. It was Chen Jiongming's troops who ran away on their own," said He Yingqin.

Chen Jiongming was certainly aware of the grand ceremony for the National Revolutionary Army's Eastern Expedition, attended by nearly all the Kuomintang leaders. His Guangdong Rescue Army, led by Hong Zhaolin, was so scattered in Dongguan and Zengcheng that it was impossible to defend. Therefore, as soon as Zhang Minda, commander of the Second Division, ordered the advance yesterday, Chen's troops around Dongguan retreated.

Although Zhang Minda's Guangdong Army occupied Dongguan peacefully without any serious fighting or casualties, it was the first piece of territory controlled by Chen Jiongming that was captured after the Eastern Expedition began. Zhang Minda essentially took the credit for the Eastern Expedition.

Now, the pressure came to Chiang Kai-shek, who was always at odds with Zhang Minda.

Chapter 52

The First Teaching Regiment arrived in Dongguan from Guangzhou and was warmly welcomed by Dongguan citizens and nearby farmers.

The three infantry battalions of the training regiment marched in formation from the train station to their camp east of Dongguan City. Over a thousand soldiers, neatly uniformed and in high spirits, each soldier wore a plaque on their backpack that read, "Love the country, love the people, do not covet wealth, and do not fear death." Along the way, citizens offered a constant stream of water, roasted sweet potatoes, and boiled eggs. Chen Tianheng was forced to assign three squads to maintain order along the roadside, preventing civilians from forcing their belongings into the soldiers' pockets.