The Fourth Outstanding Person of Huangpu Military Academy

In the queue, Chen Tianheng and Yu Jishi stood close to each other. When Sun Yat-sen finished speaking and Wang Jingwei continued speaking, Chen Tianheng whispered to Yu Jishi.

"Ah, haha, why should I be familiar with the principal? You are the one he is familiar with. He summons you every few days." Yu Jishi said.

"Aren't you from Fenghua? Honestly, I haven't spoken to the principal in the past week."

"... Marshal Sun sent the principal to deal with the equipment transport incident. Yesterday, the principal met with the Merchant Corps, but the negotiations broke down. Now the principal may be planning to use force to deal with the Merchant Corps."

……

It’s the Guangzhou Merchants Group again.

The matter is still about the batch of merchant corps arms seized some time ago.

The Guangdong Revolutionary Government seized the arms, and then the Merchant Corps announced the establishment of a joint defense headquarters and mobilized thousands of troops to petition the government, demanding the return of the arms.

Of course, the weapons would not be returned. If the Merchant Corps did not pay a fine of 50 silver dollars, Sun Yat-sen would keep these thousands of guns.

Seeing that the petition had no results, the Merchant Corps began to mobilize Guangzhou merchants to strike. As a result, the Guangdong Revolutionary Government accused Chen Lianbo of treason and issued an arrest warrant for Chen Lianbo, who was in Hong Kong.

Chen Lianbo himself was a gentle and soft-spoken businessman, but this was probably his appearance. The merchant group he established had two main subordinate institutions: the Joint Defense Headquarters (the original merchant group militia) and the Advisory Office (Secretariat).

The Joint Defense Headquarters, from the regimental commander to the captain, was essentially full of hooligans and ruffians, while the clerks in the Advisory Office were educated hooligans and ruffians. In their struggle against the government, the Joint Defense Headquarters and the Advisory Office offered no systematic proposals, and the documents they submitted to the revolutionary government were riddled with errors, grammatical errors, and rash and arrogant language.

When the conflict between the two sides intensified, Chiang Kai-shek appeared and held negotiations with the representatives of the Merchant Corps.

The person Chiang Kai-shek met was Deng Jieshi, deputy head of the Guangzhou Merchant Corps and commander of the Merchant Corps Joint Defense Headquarters.

Before talking about the arms incident, the two had an argument about two things that happened the day before.

One incident was that Yang Ximin's Yunnan Army stationed in Guangzhou attempted to extort taxes and "departure fees" from merchants of the Merchant Corps but failed. In anger, they opened fire on the merchants and the Merchant Corps joint defense team members who came to protect them.

Another incident was that the Dongguan branch of the Guangzhou Merchant Corps attacked Liu Zhenhuan's Gui army stationed there. Liu Zhenhuan's army did not provoke them, but they took the initiative to provoke the Gui army.

"Your name is Chiang Kai-shek, right?"

Deng Jieshi looked Chiang Kai-shek up and down with a carefree expression. "My name is Deng Jieshi, and everyone calls me Commander Deng. Isn't that a coincidence?"

Chiang Kai-shek wanted to speak, but Deng Jieshi threw out another sentence: "Remember, there can only be one Jieshi in Guangzhou."

Chiang Kai-shek: ...

……

"Hey, hey, you describe it so vividly, as if you were there at the time?" Chen Tianheng said, "Is this a made-up story?"

Yu Jishi defended himself, "Although I wasn't there, I heard this from the principal's security chief. He's also from Fenghua, so how could it be false?"

It is not known whether Yu Jishi’s retelling was true or not, but after a few days, various news began to spread in the military academy.

The first to deliver the news were Yun Daiying and Xiong Xiong. Yun Daiying gathered together the party members and activists of the Young Military Association and tacitly called on Chen Tianheng.

"The conflict between the Guangzhou Merchants' Association and the revolutionary government is intensifying. I'm afraid the revolutionary government will have to take measures to finally resolve this matter."

"The Jiangsu-Zhejiang War had just broken out among the northern warlords. Dr. Sun Yat-sen was planning a Northern Expedition. He established the Northern Expedition headquarters in Shaoguan and sent Hu Hanmin to Guangzhou as acting Grand Marshal. But now Sun Yat-sen has returned, and he returned to Guangzhou with the newly formed Northern Expedition Army."

Chen Tianheng: "Sun Yat-sen's Northern Expedition had little hope of success. The warlord forces were a patchwork, and their strength was very small. Whether they could capture Hunan was uncertain."

Yun Daiying: "Yes, originally they just wanted to create momentum, but now Sun Yat-sen no longer wants that momentum. The situation in Guangdong is also quite complicated. Chen Jiongming's army is quietly maneuvering and approaching Guangzhou. There are rumors that Chen Jiongming's troops received funding from the Guangzhou Merchant Corps, but there are also rumors that the Guangzhou Merchant Corps did not fund Chen Jiongming, but he just saw an opportunity. In addition, the British are now spreading rumors in Hong Kong that they support the Guangzhou Merchant Corps."

Xiong Xiong: "If Sun Yat-sen wants to deal with the Guangzhou Merchant Corps, he will still rely mainly on the Yunnan and Guangxi armies, but I'm afraid our Whampoa student army will also be deployed to the front lines at that time. Everyone should be prepared. Also, if you are deployed to the front lines, you and your classmates must be extremely careful. Show the prestige of the Whampoa soldiers, but don't make fearless sacrifices."

The small meeting of the Young Military Personnel Association ended.

Chen Tianheng vaguely remembered what Yun Daiying and Xiong Xiong had said. The Whampoa Student Army did participate in the battle to suppress the Guangdong Merchant Corps, but suffered only minor casualties. This was partly because they were not the main force in suppressing the rebellion, and partly because the Merchant Corps' combat effectiveness was simply too weak.

Therefore, there is no need to worry. Unless there are any accidents, all members of the War Research Society will return safely.

"Hello principal!"

Chen Tianheng and several members of the War Research Society were walking along the path between the school gate and the office building when Chiang Kai-shek appeared. His face was filled with indignation. Seeing Chen Tianheng salute, Chiang Kai-shek suppressed his anger and nodded in return.

"Principal." Huangpu Chief Instructor He Yingqin greeted him in front.

"This Deng Jieshi is extremely arrogant! Extremely arrogant!"

"I'm so angry!"

Chiang Kai-shek took off his white gloves and slammed them to the ground. "These traitors must be suppressed! Whampoa Military Academy students and teachers, guard battalion, if anyone can capture Deng Jieshi alive, I will personally commend him to the Prime Minister!"

Chapter 41

"Beep-beep-beep-"

The assembly whistle blew, and Chen Tianheng took the lead, followed by Zheng Dongguo, Huang Wei... The students from Class 1, Team 2 rushed out of the dormitory and gathered at the large playground on campus.

Today is October 15th. It's about that time.

"Team One of the students has assembled and is awaiting orders!"

"All students of Team Two have assembled and are awaiting orders!"

"Team Three of the cadets has assembled and is awaiting orders!"

"From today on, you are no longer cadets in Team One, Team Two, or Team Three!"

"You are the newly formed Whampoa Military Academy Training Corps! The First Battalion!"

He Yingqin, chief instructor of the Whampoa Military Academy, gave a speech on the playground.

As the first batch of students at Whampoa Military Academy were about to graduate, a teaching corps was established.

The so-called "training regiment" was formed when military academy cadets, who had no units to join after graduation, were assembled to form a military academy training regiment. He Yingqin was appointed head of the training regiment and commander of the 1st Battalion.

Not only is there no formal graduation-assignment system, the current Guangdong Revolutionary Government also has no recruitment or conscription system. Therefore, the current military academy teaching corps is 100% composed of Whampoa students, without a single conscripted soldier in between.

Later, the Kuomintang finally had the financial resources to recruit soldiers, and they gradually expanded their ranks. The Whampoa Military Academy's teaching corps first expanded to over 1,000, then to over 3,000, becoming a teaching brigade. The second class graduated, forming the Second Teaching Brigade. The teaching brigade then became a teaching division. Finally, these first and second teaching divisions... formed the 1st Army of the National Revolutionary Army.

……

He Yingqin gathered the students together and gave a speech, the main point of which was: It's time to fight the merchant corps, set off immediately.

Five days earlier, on October 10th, under the leadership of the Guangdong District Committee of the Communist Party of China, approximately 5,000 to 6,000 people from 30 groups, including the Guangzhou Anti-Imperialist League, the Guangzhou Workers' Representative Council, and the Socialist Youth League, held a rally commemorating the 1911 Revolution. After the rally, the demonstration procession reached Xihaokou and clashed with the Merchant Corps' Joint Defense Team. Because many of the protesters and the members of the Merchant Corps had personal grudges, the conflict quickly devolved into a bloody brawl and then into a shooting.

The next day, the Guangzhou Local Committee of the Communist Party of China issued a "Letter to the Citizens of Guangzhou", calling on the people to support the National Government in disarming the Merchant Corps and eradicating the counter-revolutionaries.

On the same day, October 11, Sun Yat-sen organized the Revolutionary Committee, appointed himself as its chairman, and authorized Chiang Kai-shek, Wang Jingwei, Liao Zhongkai and six others as full-power members of the committee. Each of them could act at his discretion in his name to quell the Merchant Corps Incident.

Therefore, the attack on the Guangzhou Merchants Group was actually a typical cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, with the Communist Party and the Kuomintang playing the roles of inciting public opinion and creating momentum, and the Kuomintang playing the roles of practical operations, respectively.

After making all these arrangements, Sun Yat-sen left Guangzhou and went to Shaoguan on October 12.

On October 14, Sun Yat-sen sent a telegram back to Guangzhou from Shaoguan, ordering all armed forces under the Guangzhou Revolutionary Government, including the Yunnan Army, the Guangxi Army, the Guangdong Army, the Fujian Army (Li Fulin's Guangdong Army), the Guard Army, the Workers' Corps Army, the Peasant Self-Defense Army,... and military academy students, to be under the command of Chiang Kai-shek.

Chiang Kai-shek issued an order on the same day, announcing the dissolution of the Merchant Corps Joint Defense Corps, and all members of the joint defense team were required to lay down their arms and disband within three days.

In fact, on October 11, the Guangdong Army and Guangxi Army controlled by the Guangzhou Revolutionary Government quietly moved to a favorable position on the edge of Guangzhou City and began to distribute ammunition.

At the Whampoa Military Academy, the students knew about the bloody incident during the October 10th parade that very day. In the past few days, thanks to propaganda from the political education department, most students have also learned about the planned crackdown on the Merchant Corps.

On October 12, the Merchant Corps also began posting notices and distributing leaflets throughout the city, demanding that Sun Yat-sen step down and the Guangzhou Revolutionary Government be expelled from Guangzhou. (How confident!)

Zhou Junyan, director of the Quartermaster Department, also made a rare appearance and distributed bullets to the students one by one with several faculty members from the Quartermaster Department.

"Brother Zhou, should we bring our machine gun with us today?" Chen Tianheng checked the rifle in his hand again, stuffed the 60 rounds of bullets he had received into the bullet belt, and asked Zhou Shidi.

Zhou Shidi, the leader of the cadets from Team 2, said: "Yes. We're counting on the machine guns today."

Chiang Kai-shek "looted" the Shijing Arsenal and, in addition to 500 rifles and ammunition, also took home four light machine guns, one for each cadet team. This was the most powerful firepower the Whampoa Student Army had at the time. The current student army had no heavy machine guns or artillery.

A Soviet cargo ship unloaded its first shipment in Guangzhou in early October, but it was also entirely rifles, 500 in total, destined for the newly enrolled second-term Whampoa Military Academy students. As for the promised Soviet artillery aid, that would take another month or two to arrive.

Chen Tianheng: "Depending on Instructor He's arrangements, Team 4 will remain at the academy today. Can you bring Team 4's machine gun over as well?"

Zhou Shidi was the team leader, and Chen Tianheng was a squad leader in the second team. However, in the Youth Army Association and the War Research Association, everyone gathered together to discuss and study, regardless of rank. Zhou Shidi thought about it and felt that it made sense, so he went to the military supply department to ask.

After a while, Zhou Shidi returned empty-handed: "The machine gun was taken away by Team One first."

……

All right, one company (cadet team 2), one light machine gun. A Madsen replica from the Ishii Arsenal.

When Chen Tianheng got off the ferry in Guangzhou City, he felt that Guangzhou City today was very different from what it was half a month ago.

The city of Guangzhou is now under martial law, and Xu Chongzhi's Guangdong Army soldiers patrol the streets from time to time.

"Bang——" "Bang——"

At Xiguan, ahead of the student army's march, the occasional gunshot rang out. It was a single-shot bolt-action rifle of unknown caliber.

Chen Tianheng soon saw the battle scene at Xiguan. About two hundred meters away, a member of the joint defense regiment leaned out from the barricade, holding the butt of a rifle under his right armpit. His left hand grasped the handguard, while his right hand curled up to pull the trigger of the rifle under his armpit.

"boom--"

This joint defense corps member was short and had short arms. When his left hand held the handguard, the muzzle of the gun was tilted up. With a bang, the bullet went diagonally upwards and hit the bird. The threat to the student army was zero.

This posture can be compared to the black uncle's shooting in the 21st century, except that the joint defense team members did not use AKs and did not have small grips, so they used this posture. Seeing this shot, not only did Chen Tianheng almost laugh out loud, but the students around him also felt uncomfortable watching it.

"These militias don't even know how to aim their guns, right?" Zheng Dongguo shook his head.

Chen Tianheng: "Maybe he can aim and fire, but not completely. He fired a few shots before and hurt his shoulder, so he switched to this shooting method that doesn't hurt his shoulder. ... Lao Zhou! How's it going?"

Zhou Shidi had just been speaking to the messenger when he turned to Chen Tianheng and said, "Our mission is to attack this street until we reach Baozhilin, but the messenger just delivered a new order. We can just hold the line and wait for Xu Chongzhi's troops to launch a fire attack after dark. It must be that Xu Chongzhi and Li Fulin's attacks have been blocked."

Chen Tianheng: "Their barricades are very solid. Although most of the militia members are weak, if only a quarter or a fifth of them can aim and shoot, it will be difficult to charge them. ... Wait a moment, Jiang Xianyun and the others will be here soon."

"I'm coming!"

Jiang Xianyun, Chen Geng, Xu Xiangqian and Song Xilian came jogging. Jiang Xianyun and Chen Geng each carried a light machine gun on their shoulders, while Xu Xiangqian and Song Xilian were bulging with bags and each carried several magazines.

Chen Geng: "We moved all the assets of the first team here."

Zhou Shidi: "No, one of you was coordinated from Team 4, right?"

Jiang Xianyun: "Yes, we were quick to grab the light machine gun from Team 4. But when we got to Xiguan, Instructor He said Team 1 would be the reserve, while Teams 2 and 3 would attack. So, I'll just coordinate both machine guns for you. Hello, Director Ye!"

Ye Jianying, fully armed, walked quickly towards them with two guards.

"I heard you were planning a surprise attack?"

Chen Tianheng: "Yes. Instructor Ye, we discussed this before, breaking through the wall and infiltrating."

Ye Jianying: "Open the map. Let me see it."

Huang Wei took out a map from his bag and spread it on the ground.

Chen Tianheng: "I still have to wait for someone."

Ye Jianying: "Who?"

Xu Xiangqian: "A barber, I think his name is Ah Qi? I found him when I visited Xiguan last time."

Chen Tianheng saw a head popping out from the corner of the wall behind him on the left. He waved and asked Ah Qi to come over quickly.

"Here's your hard work fee," Chen Tianheng pulled two Guangyang out of his pocket and handed them to Ah Qi. "Next, we need to ask some questions about the joint defense team members around the Thirteen Hongs. I'll give you more money once you've answered them. Open the map."

"Ahead is Baozhilin, about 100 meters away, so we should be here. The Thirteen Hongs, or the Merchant Corps headquarters, is here. The Merchant Corps is arrogant and domineering. Not only do they not take Marshal Sun seriously, they also speak arrogantly to President Chiang. President Chiang said that whoever can capture or kill the bandit leader will be commended to Marshal Sun. So our goal today is to raid the Thirteen Hongs and capture the leaders of the Merchant Corps and the Joint Defense Corps in one fell swoop."

Zhou Shidi: "Breaking through walls can bypass the barricades of the Joint Defense Corps, but we have limited explosives, so we have to choose a good route."

Ye Jianying: "How much explosives did your team get?"

Li Zhilong: "I brought 10 explosive packs, which can create 5 to 10 holes."

Chen Tianheng: "Thin brick and wooden walls can be broken down with a wall hammer. It won't take long. Xu Xiangqian, you've been researching the route. Have you come up with any results?"

Xu Xiangqian: "There's a preliminary route. Blast from here, enter this, the Hengfu Inn, then go this way, go this way, reach this street, and break through the wall here to enter. This is a large compound. You're sure there's no joint defense group in this compound, right?"

Ah Qi: "No one, sir."

Xu Xiangqian: "...Finally, we arrived at Thirteen Hongs. Just before reaching Thirteen Hongs, I suggested that Team 2 split into two and block them from two directions to prevent Deng Jieshi and Chen Gongshou from escaping."

Chen Geng: "Let's assume that Xu Chongzhi's troops are still standing still when we take action. Then we need both an advance route and an evacuation route. According to Xu Xiangqian's route, I suggest leaving a machine gun and a squad here to block the entire alley with firepower; leave a squad here to occupy all four windows of the Hengfu Inn, and leave another squad here."

Chen Tianheng: "So we kept some people along the way, and when we got to Thirteen Hongs, there were still six squads left, more than sixty people. Ah Qi, how many people are there in the Thirteen Hongs joint defense team?"

"Sir, there are about a dozen people with guns. Yeah, fourteen."

Zheng Dongguo: "Are these people powerful?"

Chen Tianheng: "No, did these people eat with Deng Jieshi or Chen Gongshou?"

Ah Qi: "Separate them and give them a pot of rice and salted radish. They can eat it themselves."

Chen Tianheng: "In this situation, discussing combat quality is meaningless. The biggest factor affecting combat effectiveness is whether or not they are willing to fight for the head of the merchant group. Eating separately means that these dozen people are not blood relatives or clan relatives of Deng Jieshi. I can roughly infer their combat effectiveness. Everyone, it is now 3:30 pm. It will start to get dark at 5:30 pm and it will be completely dark at 7 pm. We will attack at dusk and withdraw after we succeed."

Ye Jianying: "The plan is very good. One more thing to add: after you occupy the Thirteen Hongs Building, you can send out signal flares and raise a flag. Xu Chongzhi's troops across the way will be able to see it."

Song Xilian: "I'm suddenly a little nervous now. We've only been soldiers for a few months, and we're already being treated like this?"