The Fourth Outstanding Person of Huangpu Military Academy

Chapter 16

When the Farmers and Workers Association captured Zhao Nianci, they really did capture him - they arrested him.

Zhao Nianzhi's house has high walls and a large courtyard, and his servants have 8 rifles and 2 box cannons. How did the farmers and workers take him down?

The peasant movement in Yuebei lasted for several months. The previous strategy of the party organization was to let the actions of the farmers' associations walk on the edge of the laws of the Republic of China. Even if a few actions crossed the legal boundaries, they were still "illegal but reasonable."

For example, the Pingling (Flat Price) prohibition prevented rice from being exported from the region. The rice was then sold locally at a flat price, but the proceeds were still transferred to Hu Yujia and Liu Bichen. The farmers' union sold their rice at the flat price, which meant they made less profit, but not nothing. In essence, the farmers' union simply enacted a local regulation prohibiting the export of grain. That was it.

Because the Farmers' and Workers' Union was generally reasonable, three days later, the Farmers' and Workers' Union came to inform Zhao Nianzhi that his housekeeper Arong had confessed and asked him to go to the Farmers' and Workers' Union for a confrontation. Zhao Nianzhi was anxious and went there with four people and two guns.

As soon as Zhao Nianci pushed open the door of the ancestral hall where the Farmers' Association was stationed, he saw a row of Farmers' Association members inside, all wearing hoods, with a row of foreign rifles pointed at him...

There was no plot of him roaring and rushing towards Xiangqi. Zhao Nianci didn't have the courage to do so, so he could only surrender obediently.

Recover the hostage Zhao Nianci. Receive +2 Farmers' and Workers' Rifles.

After capturing Zhao Nianci, the Farmers' and Workers' Union posted a notice in Hengyang City, stating their conditions:

1. Bring Zhao Nianci to justice;

2. Zhao Nianci, or the Zhao family, must return the ill-gotten gains from the past few years, including 5000 dan of grain from the charity granary, 2000 dan of illegally collected land taxes, and 7000 taels of other ill-gotten gains. Returning these assets could mitigate Zhao Nianci's punishment.

3. The Farmers and Workers Association should be able to carry out legal activities throughout Hengshan, and farmers should be free to join the Farmers and Workers Association. The Farmers and Workers Association should have an organized guard team and the power to stop illegal activities.

Do you think Zhao Hengxi would agree to these conditions? Of course not.

The grain and money collected by Zhao Nianzhi and Zhao Hengxi's relatives in various places in Hunan were all collected at the order of Zhao Hengxi and used to support the army. The role of the three divisions of the Hunan Army under Zhao Hengxi was equivalent to ensuring that his family could rule Hunan.

So, Zhao Hengxi had to send troops to rescue his brother.

When will the troops be dispatched? At least ten days from now.

It's just that slow. Do you think Zhao Hengxi's Hunan Army is a quick reaction force?

"Zhao Hengxi is very stingy with his soldiers. Their salaries are lower than those of the Beiyang government, and their food is not very good. When they are not marching out, his troops only have two meals a day, and only one of them is dry rice. If he wants to order the troops to march out to fight, he must first restore the food supply so that the soldiers are well fed, and then issue the marching pay, otherwise he will not be able to mobilize them at all. If the officers and soldiers continue to dawdle and prepare their baggage, we will not see Zhao Xiheng's regular army in Yuebei until late July."

Xiang Qi's anxiety was calmed down by Chen Tianheng. However, he then asked a question:

"You said ten days from now. That means it's almost time to harvest the rice. Many members of the Farmers' Union will have to go back home to work on the farm."

Chen Tianheng nodded. "So we shouldn't confront Zhao Xiheng's regular army head-on. We need to deal with them for about a month. By then, the Hunan warlords will be fighting each other, and we'll have an opportunity to take advantage of it."

Jiang Xianyun: "The Farmers' Association is not limited to Yuebei now. We have mobilized farmers from dozens of miles around, not just Hengshan County. I saw villages in Xiangtan and Xiangxiang also sending people to join the Farmers' Association. If Zhao Hengxi comes to attack Yuebei, we will move to other places. We can hold out here for a month or two without any problem."

Chen Tianheng: "Considering that the busy farming season is approaching, most farmers' association members will have to return to their farms. Therefore, I plan to reorganize the farmers' association's guard team, retaining only 20 to 30 members whose families have sufficient labor. These members will be able to travel with us for the next one to two months. The rest of the members will only be able to move around within the village. We must also maintain contact and not lose touch with them."

Chen Geng: "Fortunately, the more than 80 members are rotated, and everyone has practiced with firearms. No matter who stays, it won't be a big problem."

"Xiang Qi! Is Xiang Qi here? Is Chen Tianheng here? Is Jiang Xianyun here?"

Late at night, outside the Liu Jie San Gong Temple, the headquarters of the Farmers' and Workers' Union, someone called out softly to Xiang Qi. Xiang Qi stood up, walked to the door, looked at the person, asked a few questions, and then opened the door.

"I'm from the Changning Peasant and Workers' Union! I'm here to deliver a letter from Secretary Mao!"

……

Mao Runzhi arrived in Changning.

Chen Wangdao was invited to join the Hunan Provincial Committee to "strengthen work in the Hunan region." Although he was only the Propaganda Minister of the Hunan Provincial Committee, when the Hunan peasant movement flourished, Mao Runzhi himself was able to go down to the grassroots level in the countryside, while Chen Wangdao stayed in Changsha to handle some matters such as liaison with the Party Central Committee.

Mao Zedong wanted to visit Changning and Hengshan counties, the focal points of the peasant movement. He first went to Changning. After arriving in Changning, he realized that there were many problems to be solved there, and it would take him a while to stay there before he could go to Hengshan/Yuebei. So he wrote a letter to Yuebei.

"Xie (Xiangqi), Chen (Tianheng), Jiang (Xianyun):"

"When I was in Changsha, I read your work report dated June 25th. Your plan to equalize grain sales, prevent the ban, and crack down on local tyrants and evil gentry to win the hearts and minds of the people is very good. I have nothing to add. I hope you will carry it through to the end."

"The peasant movement in Changning is showing initial success. Guo Liang, Xia Xi, and Xia Minghan have each organized three farmers' unions in Changning, all planning to launch a campaign for equal grain sales. In their efforts to mobilize the peasants, the Changning Party organization has focused on educating them to understand that it is the prolonged warlord infighting, heavy taxes and rents, and greedy officials that have led to the extreme poverty of the countryside and the peasants. Furthermore, they must inspire the peasants with the hope of a better life."

"I will need to conduct agitation and investigation in Changning for about a month. During this time, please pay close attention to changes in the situation in Yuebei, especially the movements of Zhao Xiheng's army. The Tan-Zhao War recently began, but the initial confrontation between the two sides was not fierce, which raises serious questions. I'm afraid things may not go as smoothly as previously expected."

"Therefore, Yuebei must make all possible contingency preparations to protect local workers and peasants and preserve the party organization."

Finished reading the letter.

Chen Tianheng's attention was completely focused on the last two sentences.

The Tan-Zhao War has begun?

The first confrontation between the two sides was not so intense?

Be prepared for the unexpected?

"Who told you last time that Tan Yankai and Zhao Xiheng started fighting?" Jiang Xianyun asked.

Xiang Qi: "Yes, it was Hu Yujia, the landlord who sold grain. He grumbled a lot when we were negotiating with him, and one of his words was this."

Chen Tianheng: "We live in this small village in the north of Hengshan County. We're so isolated from information that we can't even get a newspaper. By the way, does Hu Yujia's family subscribe to a newspaper?"

Jiang Xianyun: "Very likely. This Hu Yujia was somewhat educated, and his son attended a modern school. The family probably subscribed to a newspaper."

Chen Tianheng: "Let's go to the Hu family compound to meet Hu Yujia."

At the gate of the Hu family compound, I knocked on the door for a long time before a servant came to answer, and then Hu Yujia came out reluctantly.

"We've checked the accounts for the charity granary," Chen Tianheng said, pulling out a slip of paper. "Your 300 dan of grain was indeed delivered to the town's charity granary, so we should pay you and the Liu family for 1170 dan of rice. But the grain from the town's charity granary was stolen by Zhao Nianci. Only if Zhao Nianci returns the stolen grain can we settle our accounts. So, here's the IOU."

"Haha." Hu Yujia took the IOU and laughed dryly.

Chen Tianheng: "Besides that, I have another favor to ask, Mr. Hu. Please lend me some recently published newspapers. We need to read."

……

This is damn information blockade.

Back in Changsha and Shanghai, even in the 1920s, cities were still relatively well-informed. Chen Tianheng could barely accept that the morning paper would report the previous evening's news. But now, when he went to Yuebei to participate in the peasant movement, there were no telephones, no telegraphs, no newspapers, and practically no postal service (he had to go to Baiguo Town to drop off a letter). He was completely in the dark.

The latest newspaper found in Hu Yujia's home was the Hengyang Daily on July 5, which was five days ago.

The Tan-Zhao War broke out on June 23.

把6月25日到7月5日的报纸信息捋了一遍，这10天发生的事情是：

On June 23, Tan Yankai instructed Cai Juyou, the garrison commander of Yuanling, to declare the independence of western Hunan. His troops accepted the banner of the First Hunan Army of the Democratic National Construction Army appointed by Sun Yat-sen and sent 6 troops to attack Zhao.

On June 25, Tan Yankai himself brought 6 soldiers he had borrowed from various sources, known as the Second Hunan Army of the Democratic National Construction Army, and entered Hunan from Guangdong to fight against Zhao.

However, Cai Juyou's troops did not attack Changsha from western Hunan to the east, but first marched southeast and occupied Huaihua.

Tan Yankai's troops entered Hunan and occupied Chenzhou and Yongxing on July 3. Hengyang was to the north, but Tan Yankai stopped and instead launched a tentative attack to the west.

Wasn't it agreed that you, Tan Yankai, would attack Hengyang and Changsha, drive out Zhao Hengxi, and become the top dog in Hunan? The farmers' associations around Hengyang are all ready to riot as soon as your army arrives, helping you take Hengyang!

Chen Tianheng was drawing a topographic map of Hunan and a map of the situation of the Tan and Zhao armies (he still relied on his imagination to draw a lot of information) at the eight-immortal table. Suddenly, he understood something and slapped his forehead:

"Tan Yankai wants to join forces with Cai Juyou's troops! Damn it!"

Xiangqi: "Why is it so bad when we meet each other?"

Chen Tianheng pointed at the map:

"Tan Yankai's two armies are approaching each other and will eventually meet in Yongzhou."

"If we meet in Yongzhou, we'll have opened up a route from western Hunan through Huaihua, Yongzhou, and Chenzhou into Guangdong. Guizhou's Qiantu, parts of Sichuan's Chuantu, and the local opium producers of western Hunan will be able to enter Guangdong through this route. Tan Yankai's goal isn't to attack Changsha and Hengyang, the core areas of Hunan, or to overthrow Zhao Xiheng. He simply wants to reopen his opium trade, which he's shut down for three years!"

"So, either Tan Yankai didn't listen to Sun Yat-sen, or Secretary Chen and Sun Yat-sen broke off the talks!"

……

Changsha.

"Comrade Lao Chen. Yesterday a telegram arrived from Shanghai addressed to Mao Runzhi."

Yang Kaihui handed an unopened telegram to Chen Wangdao.

"Mao Run has returned from his travels, but I think this telegram, although personal, is likely to be work-related, so I'll leave it to you to open."

Chen Wangdao took the telegram and opened it in front of Yang Kaihui.

"Li Dazhao sent it under his own name," Chen Wangdao read the telegram. "This is bad."

"Chen Duxiu and Sun Yat-sen didn't talk at all. Someone privately reported the matter to the Communist International, which prevented the Central Committee from contacting Sun Yat-sen privately and severely criticized Chen Duxiu."

"I have to go to Changning."

Chapter 17

Since the Second Revolution, Sun Yat-sen's way of carrying out revolution was to call on, lobby and persuade a certain group of warlords to accept his ideas and rise up to unify China.

This approach certainly never worked, so after the second Protection of the Law movement failed, Sun Yat-sen resigned as Grand Marshal and sent a telegram to the whole country, angrily denouncing that "the North and the South are birds of a feather."

However, this was probably the only way for him to launch a revolution and leverage China. Regardless of the strength and talent pool of the Kuomintang, it could only adopt this method, which sounded nice, was borrowing someone else's strength against them, but to put it bluntly, was a deception.

After angrily denouncing the "birds of a feather" mentality, Sun Yat-sen still tried a few more times (because he really couldn't find any other solution). In 1923, he appointed Tan Yankai as Minister of the Interior Department of the Generalissimo's Office and Commander of the Second Army, and encouraged him to launch the Tan-Zhao War. This was probably the last time Sun Yat-sen did this.

After the failure of the Tan-Zhao War, Sun Yat-sen gave up this path and turned to accepting Soviet support and cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.

This is Sun Yat-sen's narrative. In his decades-long rebellious career, it was just another Sun Yat-sen-style revolution that started off well but ended badly, went astray in the middle, and ultimately failed.

On the Shanghai Party Central Committee side, as Li Dazhao said in the telegram he sent to Mao Runzhi, an attempt proposed by Chen Duxiu was stopped by the Communist International during the discussion at the Secretariat meeting and died in the womb.

Before leaving Shanghai, Chen Tianheng and Jiang Xianyun proposed this idea to Chen Duxiu, who, after careful consideration, decided it was worth a try. However, this matter involved the entire Party, not just Hunan. Many people in the Central Committee would also need to cooperate on this matter, so Chen Duxiu convened a meeting of the Central Secretariat to discuss the matter.

Because the plan was too bold and exceeded the scope of the Communist International's framework for cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, the discussion at the meeting was very heated. With the exception of Li Dazhao, who expressed cautious support, the other delegates were generally not optimistic about it, and Zhang Guotao was particularly opposed.

Chen Duxiu was furious and scolded all those who raised their hands in opposition one by one. He said that he would hold another Secretariat meeting in two weeks and must pass this matter.

Chen Tianheng had anticipated this a long time ago.

Opposition at the Secretariat meeting was to be expected, as was Chen Duxiu's attempt to force the decision through. Chen Duxiu was a man of such arrogance and patriarchal ways that inner-party democracy and the principle of minority obeying the majority were ineffective when it came to him.

But what Chen Tianheng hadn't anticipated was that three days after the first Secretariat meeting, Maring, the Communist International's Eastern representative and secretary of the Committee on National and Colonial Questions, sent a harshly worded telegram to the Party Central Committee. The next day, Maring rushed from Beijing to Shanghai on a train. Upon meeting Chen Duxiu, he harshly criticized and warned him.

Therefore, the Secretariat meeting scheduled for two weeks later was postponed to four weeks later. During this time, Chen Duxiu had been persuading, explaining, and arguing with Maring, but Maring did not listen.

In Marin's view, KMT-CPC cooperation must first and foremost be under the unified coordination and direction of the Communist International. Not only the Communist Party, but also the Kuomintang (KMT) must obey the Comintern, and private collusion between the two parties is prohibited. Indeed, in the future, when the Communist Party fully joins the KMT, the Comintern hopes that its top brass will also be included in the KMT's Central Committee or even its Standing Committee, but that will be in the future. Right now, before you can join forces, you're not allowed to collaborate without authorization.

Secondly, the Communist International believed that if a country’s Communist Party actually regarded peasant uprisings as its biggest KPI, then it was no longer a Communist Party, but a political party representing the agricultural petty bourgeoisie.

……

"Comrade Chen, Comrade Jiang, what should we do now?"

"Xiang Qi, we need to make some changes and lower our stance, but we can't let go of Zhao Nianci. She's our hostage and our amulet."

Yuebei Farmers and Workers Association.

After revealing Tan Yankai's true purpose of "attacking Zhao", Jiang Xianyun's mind quickly turned to find a way to deal with it. When Xiang Qi asked, Jiang Xianyun's first thought was Zhao Nianci, who was currently imprisoned in the ancestral hall.

He is the younger brother of Zhao Hengxi, the powerful warlord who ruled Hunan.

"Xianyun, let's analyze and deduce the situation first," Chen Tianheng said. "Just now at the landlord's house, everyone might not have thought it through thoroughly enough."

"The future direction of the Tan-Zhao War was that after Tan Yankai opened up his own opium trade routes, he would inevitably hesitate in southern and western Hunan. Zhao Hengxi might also tacitly allow Tan Yankai to occupy a relatively unproductive corridor within Hunan."

"If Tan Yankai, under Sun Yat-sen's repeated urging, reached out to Hengyang and Changsha, Zhao Hengxi would strike back vigorously. If Wu Peifu sent troops from Hubei into Hunan, the Wu-Zhao coalition would proactively attack and completely expel Tan Yankai, but Zhao Hengxi might not welcome Wu Peifu's army entering Hunan. Before this balance is broken, Zhao Hengxi will have a sufficient number of troops and ample time to devote to suppressing the peasant movement around Hengyang."

"A rough estimate is that each of the six or seven farmers' unions currently has to face at least one battalion of Zhao Hengxi's army. In reality, even if the armed personnel of the six or seven farmers' unions were combined, they wouldn't be able to take on a single battalion of Zhao Hengxi's army. So..."

Chen Tianheng's CPU usage suddenly reached 100%.

Xiangqi: "So what should we do?"

Jiang Xianyun: "Run."

Chen Tianheng shook his head. "A few of us, even the core members of the Farmers' and Workers' Union, could easily withdraw, but that would mean the peasant struggle in Yuebei would fail, or at least be severely frustrated. We would lose our mass base because the peasants would no longer trust us."

Jiang Xianyun: "Then what other tricks can you come up with to turn defeat into victory?"

"I was thinking, I was thinking..." Chen Tianheng slapped his thigh suddenly: "We can fail, but before we leave, we have to win one last time. A small win is fine."

……

The army sent by Zhao Hengxi to suppress the Yuebei Farmers and Workers' Union was indeed a battalion, led by Zhao Hengxi's confidant Zhao Hewu.

At the end of July, Zhao Hengxi sent an additional division from Changsha to Hengyang. However, Tan Yankai, who had been clamoring to "destroy Zhao," was busy opening up his own opium route and did not attack Hengyang, avoiding contact with Zhao Hengxi's main force defending Hengyang. This allowed Zhao Hengxi to withdraw his troops to deal with the peasant rebellion around Hengyang.

Three or four hundred Hunan soldiers wearing big hats rushed into the village, causing chaos in the whole village.

At the front gate of the ancestral hall, Zhao Hewu was riding on his horse with a proud look on his face. Beside him were the battalion's heavy firepower - two Maxim rifles.

"Xiang Qi! I recognize you!" Zhao Hewu shouted, "You can't get away! Just let the good man Zhao go, and you and your masked bandits will have a lighter sentence! If anything happens to the good man Zhao, you'll all be beheaded!"

Xiang Qi was well-known locally, and since the establishment of the Farmers' Association required organizational mobilization, he didn't need to wear a hood. Even Zhao Hengxi knew that the leader of the Yuebei Farmers' Association was a former miner named Xiang Qi. Xiang Qi shouted back:

"This Zhao Nianci stole and sold rice from the charity granary! He forged official documents to trick farmers into paying more land taxes! He embezzled funds raised for the town's water conservancy projects! What a philanthropist! Make his family return all this ill-gotten gains to the Farmers' Union, and we'll let him go! If not, forget it!"

"Let him go first! If you don't, my heavy machine gun won't recognize anyone!"