The Fourth Outstanding Person of Huangpu Military Academy

In a few quick steps, Chen Tianheng scrambled up the only high slope in the training ground. Following the direction pointed by Chen Geng and Xu Jishen, the Zhongshan warship gradually emerged from the morning mist of the Pearl River. A moment later, another warship appeared—this one, presumably the Baobi, of the Nationalist Navy.

It is now 7:50 am on March 22nd.

Chen Tianheng frowned. But he soon discovered that the Zhongshan ship had no intention of anchoring at Changzhou Island. It neither turned nor slowed down, but instead passed Changzhou Island and continued to head towards the mouth of the Pearl River.

"Oh, the Zhongshan? The Zhongshan is out to sea today to fight piracy."

During lunch, Chen Tianheng asked Zhou Enlai in the restaurant, and Zhou Enlai gave an accurate answer.

Yesterday, the headquarters ordered the Zhongshan ship and another small warship to set sail, carrying 150 marines, to clear out pirates near the seaport, including destroying a small fishing village that was likely a pirate gathering place.

It is true that there are pirates off the coast of the Pearl River Estuary.

I'm not sure whether Chen Tianheng's reminder worked on Li Zhilong. I may have to wait until the next time I have the opportunity to meet Li Zhilong to find out. In short, the Zhongshan ship's voyage is in line with the mobilization process and there is no doubt about it.

Chen Tianheng: "Director Zhou, when will the delegation from the General Political Department of the Soviet Red Army come to Huangpu?"

"I came yesterday afternoon and watched your training from afar. I returned to Guangzhou last night."

……

The train went off the track and rushed into a completely unknown, pitch-black area.

Chen Tianheng felt like he was on a train that had deviated from the historical track.

Of course, in addition to influencing Li Zhilong, the only naval member of the War Research Society, Chen Tianheng also exerted his influence in other places.

Although this effect may be very weak, so weak that Chen Tianheng himself doesn't know whether it has any effect.

Andrei Sergeyevich Bubnov, alternate secretary of the Central Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and director of the Political Department of the Soviet Red Army, led a high-ranking Soviet delegation.

At the same time, it is obvious that Bubnov's delegation came to Guangzhou not just to observe. Both Bubnov's own political level and the orders he received before the trip allowed him to issue temporary instructions and personnel and policy adjustments to the Soviet military and political advisory group in the Guangzhou National Government.

"I saw a very good army at the Whampoa Military Academy, Comrade Kuibyshev. The reason this army is so good is that it combines outstanding members of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. And now you seem to want to separate the Chinese Communist Party from the Kuomintang?"

Bubnov returned to Guangzhou and had a closed-door talk with the chief military and political adviser, Ji Shangjia.

Ji Shanjia: "Precisely because this army is too good, it is harmful to the future of the Chinese revolution. What you saw at the military academy on Changzhou Island must be the First Division of the First Army of the National Revolutionary Army. I know them. This is an extremely powerful force, and its strength is constantly growing. Within this army, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party work together. For example, in the most outstanding First Regiment, the regimental commander is a Kuomintang member, and the party representative and the best battalion commander are Communists. They not only work together tacitly, but also have a close personal relationship like brothers."

Bubnov: "Comrade Kuibyshev, what you said does not answer my question. Why do we want to dismantle the two parties?"

"If this situation doesn't change," Ji Shanjia said, "and we even deploy such an army in what they call the Northern Expedition, there will be serious consequences. The Kuomintang and the Communist Party, already inseparable, will become even more difficult to separate. In other words, the Communist Party will melt into the Kuomintang, and the Kuomintang will achieve victory in the Northern Expedition. This means that the hope of success for the Chinese revolution will be even slimmer."

Bubnov: "The Politburo and Comrade Stalin did not set the goals and timetable for the proletarian revolution in China. They only demanded that China complete the national revolution. Do you understand what the Politburo meant by this?"

Kissangay: "Would a China that had completed its nationalist revolution be a good thing for the Soviet Union?"

Bubnov: "From what I have learned so far, and what Comrade Stalin believes, it is good news. Comrade Kuibyshev, the situation in the north is not good. After Feng Yuxiang issued a telegram to resign, his Nationalist Army was once again encircled and suppressed by the northern warlords. In the first few battles of the encirclement and suppression, Feng Yuxiang suffered a heavy defeat. As time goes by, I am afraid that you and I will realize that only by relying on the army in Guangzhou can we defeat the northern warlords."

Ji Shanjia: "I really dislike the Kuomintang. They have their own theoretical system, while Feng Yuxiang does not. Therefore, Feng Yuxiang can be controlled, while the Kuomintang is full of uncertainty."

Bubnov: "The Kuomintang can also be controlled. Their theoretical system cannot compete with Soviet money and weapons."

Ji Shanjia: "That's not a contradiction. The plan I proposed some time ago was to ship the revolutionary troops in Guangzhou, I mean, mainly the Kuomintang officers and soldiers, to Tianjin to join Feng Yuxiang's army. We only need to transport more weapons and ammunition from Mongolia to Feng Yuxiang, so that these soldiers can be armed in Tianjin and join the battle."

Bubnov: "Your plan has met with fierce opposition from Chiang Kai-shek, who protested to me yesterday."

Ji Shanjia: "Then I think you and I should work together to put pressure on Chiang Kai-shek. Feng Yuxiang's strategic position is excellent. I mean, supporting Feng Yuxiang can quickly achieve our goal."

……

"Hello, Davarishi Dai."

The conversation (or debate) with Kishanka lasted from morning until noon, and Bubnov was unable to convince Kishanka. By noon, Kishanka had to continue his other activities. He was meeting with senior KMT officials in Guangzhou. Today's luncheon was with Dai Jitao, a standing member of the KMT Central Executive Committee.

Dai Jitao: "Hello, General Bu."

Bubnov: "Bubnov. Commissioner Dai, you seem to be somewhat dissatisfied with the current cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Soviet Union."

Dai Jitao: "Ji Shangjia always acts like the boss, interfering in everything."

Bubnov: "I have noted Jishanjia's request to establish a headquarters military command system based on the Soviet Military Advisory Group. But this is technically necessary because the National Revolutionary Army has now reached 20 personnel. Such a large army cannot be smoothly deployed and used by you alone. You need the assistance of the staff of the Soviet Military Advisory Group."

Dai Jitao: "But the supreme command must be left to Chiang Kai-shek. He is the commander-in-chief of the National Revolutionary Army."

Bubnov: "The supreme commander of an army should be the leader of the party and the state. At present, it should be Wang Jingwei, while Chiang Kai-shek is the supreme commander of the army."

"General Bu, with all due respect, if this headquarters command system is established, Wang Jingwei will not have supreme command authority."

"Hmm..." Bubnovka paused. "So, this is your main conflict right now. I can try to make some changes."

Dai Jitao: "If this matter can be changed, it should be changed as soon as possible. Also, Lao Bu, Ji Shanjia also has some opinions on the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party."

Bubnov: "Call me Bubnov. Haven't some people in your Kuomintang always expressed their disapproval of the cooperation between the Communist Party and the Kuomintang?"

"It's not us who want to separate now, it's Ji Shangjia," Dai Jitao said. "Ji Shangjia thinks the Communist Party will become corrupt if it stays within the Kuomintang, and if it becomes corrupt, it won't be able to continue the revolution. Oh, how could the Kuomintang possibly corrupt the Communist Party? It's more like the other way around. It's said that these ideas aren't Ji Shangjia's, but the opinions of the driver of one of your Politburo members."

"No, no, how could the driver of our Politburo member give instructions to Jishanjia? You must be mistaken." Bubnov looked puzzled.

"That's what I heard. The driver said that the Kuomintang wasn't revolutionary enough. If the Kuomintang and the Communist Party cooperated, and the Communist Party joined the Kuomintang, then over time the Communist Party wouldn't be revolutionary enough, and China would be finished. Was that the driver?"

Dai Jitao asked the secretary beside him.

"Director Dai, it's not the driver, it's Trotsky. His full name is Trotsky."

Dai Jitao: "Yes, yes, yes, my secretary is right. There is a member of your Politburo named Trotsky."

A stern light flashed in Bubnov's eyes, but he quickly returned to normal.

Chapter 84

"Comrade Ji Shanjia, Chief Military and Political Advisor of the Soviet Advisory Group, is currently receiving medical treatment on leave due to long-term overwork, high mental stress, and severe physical discomfort."

Ji Shanjia no longer shows up.

In reality, Kisanka was lucky. After all, it was only 1926, and Trotsky was still a member of the Politburo of the Soviet Communist Party, one of the top five leaders of the Soviet Union. Essentially, Kisanka acted based on personal connections and followed the guidance of a Politburo member that hadn't been approved through organizational procedures. That was the nature of the incident.

If we wait five years, it will be hard to say.

In reality, Trotsky was now severely isolated within the CPSU. Not only was Stalin opposed to him, but all members of the Politburo were against him. Although Trotsky was one of the founders of the Red Army, he had lost all his military posts. The only jobs assigned to him by the Politburo were Chairman of the Concessions Commission, Chairman of the Electrotechnical Administration, and Chairman of the Industrial Technology Administration.

After that, Trotsky was probably transferred (exiled) to Almaty and then went into exile abroad.

"This Trotsky has a very high theoretical level."

At a tea party held by the Sun Yat-sen Society, Dai Jitao read Trotsky's Terrorism and Communism.

Although Trotsky was not exiled until 1929, his ideas were formed much earlier. As early as 1906, he wrote articles that hinted at the key concepts of "Trotskyism." This 1920 pamphlet, "Terrorism and Communism," provides a relatively complete account of Trotsky's theory of permanent revolution.

"First, his theory is self-consistent within his own system. A self-consistent theory will inevitably have supporters in the future, whether many or few. Second, although his theory may seem unorthodox, it is all derived from the ideas in Marx and Engels' books, and the proof process leading to the new conclusions is very logical, or at least very complete."

In 1920, Dai Jitao was a member of the Shanghai Communist Group. For a period of time, he frequently held salons with Chen Duxiu and Chen Wangdao to discuss the communist theories of Marx and Engels. Therefore, he immediately recognized the hard-core nature of Trotsky's "scripture."

Chen Tianheng: "But the one who most wanted to strangle this theory was the Soviet Union. In 1926, the number of first-grade children in the Soviet Union had dropped significantly compared to the previous year, and the number of first-grade children last year had also dropped significantly compared to the year before. And this was just after the three-year anti-intervention war. And then, that eccentric Trotsky said that domestically, the Communist Party must constantly suppress restorationists who challenged the dictatorship of the proletariat and maintain its purity; internationally, the Soviet Union must sweep across Europe and then the world... As soon as Stalin determined that any senior official had even a shred of trust in Trotsky, he would immediately take him down."

Dai Jitao: "Continuous revolution. However, the Soviet Communist Party Central Committee criticized Trotsky for being left-leaning or even extreme left-leaning. This is wrong. In my opinion, he is extreme right-wing, or more precisely, an extreme right-winger with a strong inner tendency towards self-destruction."

Chen Tianheng: "Oh?"

He said that socialism could not be achieved in one country because 'the longer the Soviet Union remained surrounded by capitalism, the deeper its degeneration would become. The inevitable outcome of prolonged isolation would not be national communism but the restoration of capitalism.' Therefore, the Soviet Union, or the first country to achieve socialism, must, during the period in which it could still maintain the dictatorship of the proletariat, immediately, intensively, and continuously export revolution to other countries, establishing the dictatorship of the proletariat in all major countries in one fell swoop.

"Actually, this statement is both true and false. The truth is 'the Soviet Union can't survive,' and the lie is 'the Soviet Union can't survive because it's been corrupted and degenerated by capitalism.' That's why I say Trotsky was actually a rightist. He thought the Soviet Union couldn't survive. As for why it couldn't survive, don't worry about it. Just follow me and continue the revolution."

Chen Tianheng was amused. Dai Jitao really liked to be unconventional when he was working on theories.

……

On the surface, Chen Tianheng's conversation with Dai Jitao was about Chen Tianheng playing the role of listener, giving Dai Jitao the opportunity to demonstrate his familiarity with horse racing and give him a sense of satisfaction. However, the real purpose was for Chen Tianheng to subconsciously implant the message into Dai Jitao's mind that "Stalin would immediately arrest any senior cadre who was certain he had some trust in Lotsky."

As for whether the party and state leader Dai Jitao would use and bring out the words that had been secretly transplanted into Bubnov's mind when he met with him, and use them as an important means in the talks, that was left to fate.

Whampoa Military Academy. Training ground.

All the students of the third term have been incorporated into the Second Division of the First Army. Except for two cultural classes in the classroom, they spend the rest of the time training in the military camp, so the ones jumping around on the training ground are all students of the fourth term.

"I've found the people you mentioned. This one is in Cadet Team 4."

Du Yuming and Chen Tianheng approached the fourth-term students who were in training.

"This Lin Biao is also a well-connected person. He was admitted to the school because of Lin Yunan's letter of recommendation and was taken care of by Xiao Chu'nu and Yun Daiying."

Chen Tianheng: "I know. He is Lin Yunan's cousin. His real name is Lin Yurong. He thought his name sounded like a girl's, so he changed it to Lin Biao."

Du Yuming: "Is this Lin Biao very powerful?"

Chen Tianheng: "According to Lin Yunan, this child has been very smart since he was young."

Du Yuming showed an awkward expression on his face: "Well, Captain, take a look for yourself. He's over there."

Du Yuming pointed in the direction where a group of students from Team 4 were practicing bayonet fighting with wooden spears. It was more like playing around than practicing, as the instructors hadn't yet assigned them to a formal formation for bayonet drills; they were just moving around freely.

Starting with the third term, Whampoa Military Academy finally issued bayonet-fighting kits to its students: wooden rifles, wearable chest plates, and mesh face masks. This allowed students to practice hand-to-hand combat in a more confrontational manner, learning more techniques, rather than the Soviet drill manual method of teaching formations, marching in a long horizontal line, and then simply stabbing bayonets into straw men.

But before they were taught the basics, their fighting style resembled a group of children swinging around with sticks. Lin Biao was one of those students. He and another student seemed to be engaging in a duel, each stabbing and each blocking, before switching roles. Yue Yue became addicted to this, constantly switching positions, moving in circles through the crowd. Finally, Lin Biao leaped onto the wooden steps of the playground, rifle raised, and shouted:

"Liu Zhidan, surrender! I'm on high ground!"

Chen Tianheng: “…”

Du Yuming: "Look, this is the kid who is known as smart."

Chen Tianheng: “…”

In the end, Chen Tianheng of course sent the "wild card" invitation letter from the War Research Society to Lin Biao, and filled out another one and sent it to Liu Zhidan.

……

"I've finished the test."

Lin Biao raised his hand.

"Then send it to me." said the examiner Chen Mingren.

Lin Biao brought the test paper to the table where the papers were piled. Chen Mingren said, as usual, "The test paper is just a basic survey. It's not the only criterion for joining the party. You can pass the final membership assessment regardless of whether you answer well or poorly."

Lin Biao: "I know, so I turned it in when I almost got enough points. Can I take a look at the books here?"

Chen Mingren: "Yes, you can read it as much as you want. However, for non-members, it is only in reading mode. You can read the book here, but you cannot take it out of the classroom."

"Examiner, I have finished answering as well."

Hu Lian raised his hand.

Chen Mingren: "Send it here."

Chen Tianheng also walked into the classroom, with his hands behind his back, walking back and forth among the students who were answering their papers.

There were not many students taking this test, only about a dozen, because the space in the War Research Institute's classroom could only accommodate a dozen tables.

Liu Zhidan's handwriting was in very honest regular script. Some people had already handed in their papers early, but he was still writing each question carefully.

Zhao Shangzhi answered the first two questions quickly, but he got stuck on the last two big questions.

Wu Zhonghao covered the paper tightly, and it was unknown how he answered the questions.

Wen Qiang, who was behind Wu Zhonghao, was looking around as inconspicuously as possible, probably trying to find someone to copy.

Having already handed in his paper, Lin Biao walked to the book section at the front of the classroom and picked up a copy of National Geographic. As he flipped through the pages, he became interested in the wargame table in the center. He moved his chair over to the table and examined the map of eastern Guangdong displayed on the table with great interest. Interestingly, while he was examining the map, he turned another page in his copy of National Geographic.

Chen Tianheng: "Lin Biao, are you reading while looking at a map?"

"Uh-huh."

Chen Mingren: "This kid doesn't have two brains in his skull, does he?"

Lin Biao: “Hmm.”

……

Guangzhou, the Grand Marshal's Headquarters, the headquarters of the National Revolutionary Army.

"There is no doubt that certain problems have been complicated and exacerbated by some major mistakes we have made in our military work."

Bubnov convened a meeting of the main members of the Soviet military and political advisory groups.

"1. Failure to foresee the possibility of conflict within the National Government, which would have a negative impact on the prospects of the entire revolutionary government in the South."

"2. Overestimating the degree of solidarity and unity between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party."

"3. The rapid centralization of military command inevitably aroused covert opposition from the military leadership. This, of course, also triggered, to a large extent, the practices characteristic of China's still-uneradicated warlord rule."

"4. We exercised unnecessary and excessive control over some Kuomintang generals. For example, Comrade Ji Shanjia even required Chiang Kai-shek to salute him when reporting on his work."

"Comrades, in order to ensure the continuation of the policies of the Guangdong Revolutionary Government, the smooth completion of the KMT-CCP ​​cooperation, and the Northern Expedition, I need to make some minor adjustments to the current military advisory system. First of all—"

Bubnov looked around the scene and found that except for Ji Shanjia, most of the other consultants were there.

"First, we need to have in-depth discussions with the Kuomintang Central Military Commission and Chiang Kai-shek, these high-ranking Kuomintang officials, to understand their specific demands..."