The Fourth Outstanding Person of Huangpu Military Academy

"It seems you no longer care about the warlords back home. Are you planning to go to war with the world's leading industrial powers in the future? ...That's quite interesting."

Bai Chongxi left these words before he left.

"Come on, come on, everyone."

Chen Tianheng greeted the members in the classroom, "Let's discuss again today how to solve the attacking side's dilemma. Increasing the attacking side's troop advantage to 3:1 has already been discussed, and that's one approach. Let's find a new solution."

Deductions have proven that if the attacker's force advantage is increased to 3:1 or even higher, the defender's defenses will collapse completely. This isn't nonsense; at least this conclusion should serve as a reminder to the general staff: unless other conditions change, achieving this force advantage is crucial to achieving a victory.

"The solution I'm thinking of is armored fighting vehicles."

(For ease of reading, 'armored fighting vehicles' will be referred to as 'tanks' in the following text.)

Xu Xiangqian spoke.

Huang Wei: "Tanks are great. They can crush barbed wire and trenches in no time. They have thick armor and are not afraid of machine guns. They cannot be destroyed by direct fire without artillery."

Zuo Quan: "This is an effective weapon for breaking through the trench defense system, but it's just a weapon. And that's not to say there are no means to deal with it. Anti-tank guns are already available, and tanks can cross trenches, but there are also dedicated anti-tank trenches. The spear and shield are a pair. If the spear is upgraded, the shield will be upgraded soon as well."

"Yes, as tanks emerge, anti-tank means will naturally emerge as well. If there is no technological gap between the two sides, tanks will face off against a large number of anti-tank weapons at the tactical level in the future. But I'm talking about the campaign level."

Xu Xiangqian walked to the bookshelf and took out a book:

"Tanks in the Great War, 1914-1918"

"There's also this book, 'The Reformation of War,' also written by a British guy called John F.C. Fuller. What does it mean? It says that tanks will profoundly change the face of the battlefield, not only because of their armor and firepower, but also because of their mobility."

Guan Linzheng: "Indeed, today's tanks can reach speeds of 20 kilometers per hour, and this thing has tracks, so it can run in the wild."

Xu Xiangqian: "So, a tank unit on the battlefield should have these attributes. Armor and firepower are not important; the key is its movement speed. Look at our current war game rules. An infantry division moves one square per turn. If a tank were a chess piece, it should move two or even three squares per turn."

"Assuming you'll still encounter anti-tank opposition when breaking through the trenches, you'll still have to rely on the same clumsy method of superior numbers to achieve a breakthrough. However, after opening a gap in the defense line, my pieces will surge into your rear, moving two or three squares per turn, while your so-called reserves will move one square per turn. You won't be able to catch up, so I'll just rampage behind your defenses."

"It could rush towards the defender's headquarters or their logistics storage depot. The most effective approach would be to rush towards the defender's main transportation routes, cutting off their logistics lines and their retreat routes."

Guan Linzheng: "This means that the defender's defense system has completely collapsed."

Du Yuming: "I have another question. Your tanks are fast, but what about the infantry?"

Xu Xiangqian poured wine into his goblet, took a sip (yes, it was also specially supplied by Chiang Kai-shek to the War Research Council), and said slowly:

"No infantry, just groups of tanks. Infantry slows down the tanks, so we don't need them."

Zuo Quan: “Hiss…”

"I have an idea that can complement Xu Xiangqian's idea."

Seeing that these people had already walked to the threshold, Chen Tianheng felt that it was about time and it was time to take advantage of the situation and kick them into the door.

"First of all, tanks can carry infantry. If you squeeze them in, you can hang an infantry squad outside a tank."

Zuo Quan: “Is there?”

"Yes, I'll find it and show it to you." Wang Erzhuo started moving and found a magazine with a Renault FT-17 on the cover, which was obviously capable of "hanging on" infantry.

Chen Tianheng: "Secondly, we can use special trucks to carry infantry, allowing them to move as fast as tanks."

Zuo Quan: "But tanks can be driven around in the wild, but can trucks?"

Wang Erzhuo: "Hmm..."

Guan Linzheng: "Isn't that simple? We can just replace the truck's wheels with tracks."

……

The last thing Chen Tianheng did was to ask Zheng Dongguo to write down everyone's speeches at today's brainstorming session.

call……

"Chen Tianheng." "Captain Chen."

Chen Tianheng turned around and saw Jiang Xianyun and Chen Geng appear in the night.

"Where did you two go today? Do you know what a wonderful evening you missed?"

"Chen Tianheng, there is a small big thing." Chen Geng said.

Jiang Xianyun: "The Huangpu Party League branch received instructions from higher authorities to have the Youth Army Association and other propaganda personnel pay attention to changing the direction of propaganda. The new direction is..."

Chen Geng: "A revolutionary party is necessary before there can be revolutionary armed forces. Or to put it more bluntly, if we launch the Northern Expedition at this time, it will inevitably fail."

Chapter 80

"Instructor Yun, this won't do. It really won't do."

"If you insist on doing this, I will break up with you."

Yun Daiying and Chen Tianheng.

In Yun Daiying's hand was a stack of manuscripts, which was a propaganda article written in accordance with the latest instructions of the Guangdong District Committee.

In Chen Tianheng's hand is the 1925 bound volume of "Young Soldiers".

…Ahem. A bound volume.

"Jiang Xianyun and Chen Geng are not very good at speaking. There are some things they want to say but can't express themselves, so I'm telling you. I'm really sorry."

Yun Daiying: "Yes, yes, you don't even need to say anything. From the moment you showed this thing in your hand, you were mocking me."

Chen Tianheng opened the first volume of the bound volume and read: "January 1925. At that time, Chen Jiongming hadn't yet launched his offensive, and we hadn't yet launched the Eastern Expedition. This article reviews Dr. Sun Yat-sen's exploratory Northern Expedition at the end of 1925. The central idea is that 'the purpose of the KMT-CCP ​​cooperation is the Northern Expedition, to overthrow the warlords and establish a unified, democratic, and independent nation.'"

"April issue. The previous month, the Eastern Expedition had defeated Lin Hu's forces at the Battle of Mianhu, and the Whampoa Army was in high spirits. Look at this passage: 'Comrades from both parties fought shoulder to shoulder, and the revolutionary army will be invincible. Any reactionary warlord will be forced to flee in panic like Chen Jiongming before the revolutionary Northern Expedition Army.'"

"June issue. Just reading the title is enough: 'The Zhili warlords are committing atrocities, and the people of the north are suffering unspeakably—the Northern Expedition is imminent.'"

"July issue..."

Chen Tianheng skimmed through it, read a long passage, and closed the magazine. "Instructor Yun, the main point of your article contradicts the previous stance and views of Young Soldiers. Even compared with the article in the most recent issue, it's a complete 180-degree turn. Therefore, publishing this article will deal a serious blow to Young Soldiers' credibility among the teachers and students at Whampoa Military Academy. Furthermore, this article will not be well-received by readers, let alone have any publicity effect."

Yun Daiying: "This manuscript, these words, are not completely out of thin air. You also attended the Second National Congress of the Kuomintang, which concluded not long ago. In the final vote, Hu Hanmin, who had already gone abroad for an inspection, was elected to the Kuomintang Central Standing Committee with almost unanimous votes. Wang Jingwei and Chiang Kai-shek received unanimous votes, but Hu Hanmin was elected to the Central Standing Committee with two votes less than them."

"Why did Hu Hanmin go abroad for an inspection? Last year, Liao Zhongkai was killed. The assassin who was captured was commissioned by a financial sponsor. Among the funders and planners behind the financial sponsor was Hu Hanmin's nephew. He was forced to resign from his position and go abroad for an inspection because of his involvement in this incident. Yet, the Kuomintang still elected him to the Central Standing Committee. This is very telling."

Chen Tianheng: "But at the Second National Congress of the KMT, the Central Executive Committee expelled the KMT veterans who had founded the Xishan Conference Group and banned the Beijing Comrades Association, which also had anti-communist tendencies. Wang Jingwei also reiterated in his declaration at the congress that the policy of KMT-CCP ​​cooperation and alliance with Russia to tolerate the CCP could not be denied."

Yun Daiying: "Wang Jingwei had set the tone, but within the Kuomintang, especially among the top leadership, there were still many who were hostile to the Soviet Union. Under these circumstances, talking about the Northern Expedition or even directly starting to plan one would have been premature."

Chen Tianheng: "But this is the view supported by the majority. Note that even the top Kuomintang leaders who harbor deep hostility towards the Soviet Union believe that the Northern Expedition should begin as soon as possible. This is not without reason."

"We say the Beiyang warlords were reactionary, perverse, selling out national sovereignty, and exploiting the people. These accusations are true to every word, and the actual situation may be even worse than what these words express."

"As of December of last year, the Beiyang government had borrowed 850 million silver dollars, or 600 million taels of silver, from foreign countries. What does this figure mean? The indemnity from the Boxer Protocol was only 450 million taels of silver. And almost none of this borrowed money was used for national welfare, people's livelihood, or the development of commerce. Instead, it was used to support the army and pay for wars between warlords."

"The Beiyang government has sold off all of its financial power and sovereignty as collateral, and is burdened with foreign debts that will take several lifetimes to repay. Judging by the rate of growth in Beiyang's foreign debt, the total amount they borrow from foreign banks will reach 10 billion yuan in the next year."

"They borrowed heavily from abroad and exploited the domestic resources. Every time warlords fought, both sides levied heavy taxes on their respective territories. Industry and commerce were severely suppressed by the warlords' exploitation, and national industry could not develop at all. The countryside was completely abandoned, banditry was rampant, water conservancy facilities were in disrepair, and rural order collapsed. The longer the Beiyang regime existed, the more China's fortune declined."

"At this time, the revolutionary government in the south is launching a Northern Expedition, which is basically equivalent to punishing criminals for their crimes. If you say you won't go and want to split up, who will support you in the future? Not only will they not support you, but even though you have made great contributions to the construction of the Northern Expedition Army and the preparations for the Northern Expedition, by then most people will have forgotten what you have done."

"So, I don't think the district committee or the Communist International made this decision after careful consideration."

Yun Daiying: "Speaking of this... I have something to say. Yes, you also know that this is the organization's decision. The Chinese Communist Party is the Chinese branch of the Communist International. We must obey the decisions of the higher-level organization. If you have any questions, you can raise them. The Party is a democratic organization and allows for questions, but if a decision has been made, you must still obey it. Raising questions is not a violation of Party discipline, but refusing to obey the decision of the Communist International is."

"I also know that this turn is very sudden and abrupt, and it makes the work very difficult. You just said that publishing this article will cause a lot of readers to be disgusted and damage the reputation of the magazine. I also worry about this. I am not just mechanically following orders from my superiors without thinking at all."

"So, Chen Tianheng, I beg you, earnestly, to help me. Let's work together to help the Huangpu Party League branch do this job well."

Chen Tianheng: "Then I'll offer some advice. Let's start by questioning Hu Hanmin's election to the KMT Central Standing Committee with a high vote. The key point is: this issue of the magazine will only publish questions about Hu Hanmin. Let's not discuss anything else for now. Let's put the content of your current manuscript aside for next month or even the month after next."

"Okay, that's a good idea."

Chen Tianheng: "Instructor Yun, I'm not familiar with the affairs of the Guangdong District Party Committee. But I have questions about the Communist International's sudden shift in focus, and you have as well. Did the District Party Committee as a collective raise these questions? Did they document these questions and report them to the Central Committee? Did the Central Committee convey these questions to the Communist International?"

Yun Daiying smiled bitterly: "The Central Committee, the Central Committee can't find General Secretary Chen Duxiu."

……

Chen Duxiu disappeared.

Around late January, comrades in the Central Secretariat noticed that Chen Duxiu had stopped approving documents. Ren Zuomin, the accountant and secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, who had direct contact with him, went to Chen Duxiu's residence to look for him, but found that he had disappeared.

When Ren Zuomin reported the incident, the other comrades in the Secretariat first wondered if Chen Duxiu had been arrested. In desperation, Ren Zuomin published a "missing person notice" in the Republic Daily, using a pseudonym and a code. However, after the notice was published, there was still no news of Chen Duxiu.

This is great, the General Secretary is missing.

Later, not only did the comrades in the central government look for Chen Duxiu everywhere, but Citibank and Lehman Brothers also began to look for Chen Duxiu, and even hired detectives.

Because Chen Duxiu borrowed at least 80 silver dollars from these two banks... (actually, it was Chen Yun and Luo Zhanglong who made the decision, and Chen Duxiu just signed it)

But the detectives hired by the foreign bank still couldn't find Chen Duxiu.

He disappeared for a whole month. In late February, Chen Duxiu suddenly appeared at Ren Zuoming's residence.

"Zuomin, I'm back."

"Oh, Old Chen, where have you been this past month? We're so worried! We put ads in the newspaper looking for you, but you didn't respond. We even mobilized our comrades to search for you at various police stations and detention centers in Shanghai, but we couldn't find you. Some comrades even thought you were sent directly to Beijing after your arrest..."

Chen Duxiu: "It's okay, it's okay, I'm safe. I've been living in Shanghai County for the past month, renting a small house. There's a woman with me."

Ren Zuomin thought, is this reason a big deal? You had girlfriends outside before, but you never disappeared.

Ren Zuomin was right. Chen Duxiu’s disappearance was not because he “eloped”, but simply because he was too troubled by the job.

Since the end of last year, the newly appointed Soviet military chief adviser, Ji Shangjia, has frequently issued instructions. Some of them were reported to the central government, while some were even not reported to the central government, and Ji Shangjia asked the Guangdong District Party Committee to execute them without going through the central government's process.

Ji Shanjia's orders were very different from General Garen's previous orders, and some of them were even a 180-degree turn.

Not only that, in January, Chen Duxiu also saw that the instructions issued by the chief military adviser, Ji Shangjia, and the chief political adviser, Borodin, were diametrically opposed.

This kind of shit is really exhausting.

After the KMT-CCP ​​collaboration, the Party Central Committee briefly relocated to Guangzhou, where the Third National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held. Although Guangzhou was safe (open activities were permitted), Chen Duxiu relocated the Central Committee back to Shanghai three months later, hiding in the Shanghai concession.

In the Shanghai Concession, the Party Central Committee was still unable to operate openly. Even though British and French laws were in force, the open dissemination of communism was not permitted in Britain or France. The only guarantee in the Concession was that the police would not arrest or search people without evidence.

Chen Duxiu preferred to play cat and mouse in Shanghai to leave Guangzhou, in fact, because he wanted to give the Party Central Committee a little more independence. It was not possible in Guangdong, where Soviet advisers were everywhere. Borodin and Kishanka could take a 10-minute bus ride from the Generalissimo's Palace to the Central Committee to teach you a lesson.

However, as the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party became increasingly in-depth, the Soviet Union's control over the Kuomintang and the Communist Party also became increasingly profound, and some things could not be avoided even in Shanghai.

During the month he lived in a small apartment in the suburbs of Shanghai, Chen Duxiu thought over and over again and decided to write a letter to Xia Xi, Secretary of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee.

"...In the current situation, it is not appropriate for us to use Chen Tianheng. Because the only possibility of using him at this time is as a loyal tool for some confusing decisions of the Communist International."

"Comrade Xia, please remember and carry out this order. Please also try to notify Comrade Chen Tianheng as soon as possible and tell him not to act on his own."

Chapter 81

The commander of the Second Division, Wang Maogong, was captured.

On February 24th, the Nationalist Government's Military Commission issued a dismissal order. Chiang Kai-shek dispatched his own guards to the Second Division headquarters, carrying the order and announcing Wang Maogong's dismissal. Outside the division headquarters was Liu Zhi's Fourth Regiment. The regimental commander and his officers, all Whampoa Military Academy graduates, had been warned by Chiang Kai-shek not to move. Wang Maogong was dismissed.

On February 26, Wang Maogong took 3000 oceans of "travel expenses" and a boat ticket, and boarded a ship to go abroad for inspection, watched by the Kuomintang Party Headquarters and the Whampoa Training Team, saying goodbye to the magnificent revolution.

Ji Shanjia had gone to great lengths to transfer the Second Division from the First Army's base on Changzhou Island to Guangzhou. Many people could guess Ji Shanjia's purpose for doing this: he wanted to personally control this unit.

Wang Maogong, having grasped the spirit of the Soviet military advisory group, was particularly cooperative. Shortly after moving to Guangzhou, he participated in leftist mass rallies and consistently displayed a progressive attitude. His efforts were rewarded. In the military budget issued by Wang Jingwei last month, 27 yuan was allocated to the 1st and 3rd Divisions of the First Army, the Whampoa Military Academy, and the Whampoa Military Academy's Teaching Division. A separate allocation of 15 yuan was allocated to the Second Division.

At the end of January, Wang Maogong was directly appointed as the Guangzhou garrison commander by Ji Shangjia because the Second Division was stationed in Guangzhou. Wang Jingwei also planned to recommend Wang Maogong to join the Kuomintang Central Executive Committee at the next Kuomintang Central Plenary Session.

If Wang Maogong had truly been progressive and had truly surrendered to the Communist Party, it might have been impossible to bring him down. Unfortunately, Wang Maogong's progressiveness was a facade. While he frequently attended left-wing rallies and gave speeches, his subordinates were also operating a smuggling route from Hong Kong to Guangzhou.

Wang Maogong thought no one knew about this smuggling route or dared to intervene. However, Chiang Kai-shek had long known about it. Chiang used the evidence of Wang Maogong's smuggling to slam the table of the National Government Military Commission. The committee members could not find any words to refute Wang Maogong and could only issue an order to dismiss him.

After capturing Wang Maogong, Liu Zhi, the commander of the 4th Regiment of the 2nd Division, was promoted to commander of the 2nd Division, and Hu Zongnan was appointed commander of the 4th Regiment.

At the same time, with the establishment of the National Revolutionary Army Headquarters, Chiang Kai-shek appointed himself commander-in-chief, and the post of commander of the First Army was handed over to He Yingqin, and He Yingqin's original position as commander of the First Division was handed over to Xue Yue.

"Tian Hengtian, you're my favorite among the first batch of Whampoa Military Academy students, but the military is also politically conscious."

"Wang Dongcheng is defying the central government and running a smuggling operation. I must remove him from office. But he is also a veteran general of the Guangdong Army that founded the Republic of China. Before the opening of Whampoa Military Academy, he was a brigade commander of the Guangdong Army. Later, he served as the commander of the Eastern Route Anti-Traitor Army, accompanying the late Prime Minister in his campaign against Chen Jiongming, with four brigades under his command."

"I removed Wang Dongcheng from his position as commander of the Second Division. Liu Jingfu was to be his replacement, but this would cause some dissatisfaction among the members of the Guangdong Nationalist Army. Xue Boling was also a general in the Guangdong Army, so letting him lead the First Division was a political compromise and balance."

After making a series of appointments, Chiang Kai-shek summoned Chen Tianheng, mainly because he thought it necessary to appease his student at this time.

After all, he was the commander of the 1st Regiment of the 1st Division of the 1st Army, and he had made great military achievements. The commander of the 2nd Division, Liu Zhi, was promoted to the position of commander of the 1st Division. When the position of commander of the 1st Division became vacant, Xue Yue was parachuted in to be the commander of the 1st Division, and Chen Tianheng did not get the replacement.

Chen Tianheng didn't feel anything. This was a very normal thing. At that time, the division commanders of the National Revolutionary Army were all "shareholders". Only veteran revolutionary soldiers who had been officers before the establishment of Whampoa Military Academy could become candidates.

Besides, Xue Yue was… quite a capable fighter. Although it was unknown why his combat effectiveness plummeted once the Liberation War began, he was considered one of the most formidable generals in the Nationalist army during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

However, from this private conversation, another message seems to be revealed. Chiang Kai-shek actually wanted to let his own students from Huangpu move up, but he gave up because of the limitation of their qualifications.

"Principal, Director Ye is also from Guangdong."

Chiang Kai-shek: "Although Cangbai is from Meixian County, Guangdong, he is not a veteran of the founding of the Guangdong Army. He is a direct descendant of the former Prime Minister and is now the director of the professorial department of Huangpu Military Academy. He has no connection with the Guangdong Army. I intend to arrange for Cangbai to serve as the deputy commander and chief of staff of the 20th Division. He will take up the position soon after the reorganization of the 20th Division is completed."

……