The Northern Expedition, Sun Yat-sen's lifelong wish; The Northern Expedition is the best way to leave the will of the prime minister at the grassroots level. The ambitious Chiang Kai-shek then preached the Northern Expedition on various occasions, and the military report made at the Second National Congress also advocated the Northern Expedition, and even asserted in public speeches that all warlords would not have a fate of more than three years, and his remarks became even more left-leaning.

However, just when Chiang Kai-shek vigorously agitated for the Northern Expedition, on January 6, Borodin was ordered to return to China to report on his work, and Ji Jiashan took over his post, which made Chiang Kai-shek a little regretful, but did not attract his attention.

What Chiang Kai-shek did not know was that Borodin's departure represented a change in the course of work toward China within the Comintern. In November 1925, Feng Yuxiang used Guo Songling to oppose Feng and launched an attack on Li Jinglin, the general of the Feng Department of Zhili, and in December, Li Jinglin retreated to Shandong, and joined forces with Zhang Zongchang to form the Zhilu Coalition Army, and Feng Yuxiang monopolized Zhili and Beijing and Tianjin.

The development of the situation in northern China greatly encouraged the Comintern, which had been helping Feng Yuxiang, and the Soviet ambassador to China, Garahan, put forward a plan for a central revolution, the Kuomintang and [***] joined forces to launch a revolution in the capital, and tens of thousands of Yanjing workers and students surrounded the ruling axe and occupied the police station, although it did not achieve final success, but it shook the whole country politically.

At this time, looking at the map of northern China, Zhang Zuolin still occupied the three eastern provinces, but Guo Songling's anti-Feng made him lose most of it, Li Jinglin and Zhang Zongchang occupied Shandong, and the national army led by Feng Yuxiang occupied Zhili, Beijing, Tianjin, Henan, Chahar, Gansu, and Suiyuan.

Wu Peifu, who rose again, erected the banner of the alliance of thieves, and at this time he announced that the thieves were Feng, and asked to use Henan to crusade against the Zhilu coalition army in Shandong. Henan overseer Yue Weijun did not dare to agree, the story of the false way to destroy Yu was staged two thousand years ago, he sent his general Jiang Shijie to keep the faith, not to allow the soldiers of the Wu army to go out of the Wusheng Pass, Wu Peifu took the reason now, turned around and joined the Feng, announced that the thief was Feng Yuxiang, and sent Yan Yingjie to attack Xinyang, triggering the Xinyang War. The battle of Xinyang made Wu Peifu lose face and made Sun Chuanfang think differently.

At the end of December, Guo Songling's army was defeated and died, and Zhang Zuolin, who had recovered his breath, took a little rest and sent troops to North China.

Nevertheless, the military strength of the Nationalist Army was much stronger than that of the Nationalist Revolutionary Army in the south, and the Comintern, after weighing the political forces of all parties in China, decided to increase its support for the Nationalist Army.

The change in the policy of the Comintern provoked different reactions among the delegates sent by the Comintern, and the Comintern's representatives in China were supposed to be three organs: Yanjing was Minister to China Garahan, who was under the command of the Soviet Foreign Ministry, Shanghai was Vychensky under the command of the Far Eastern Bureau of the Comintern, and Borodin was in Guangdong under the direct command of the Comintern Headquarters.

Garrahan was an advocate of the Northern Strategy, and naturally resolutely supported it, and Vychensky also supported this decision, and he did the work of the [***] Central Committee, but Borodin strongly advocated the Northern Expedition and began to formulate relevant political and economic policies, but there were different opinions in the delegation headed by Borodin, and Ji Jiashan took the opposite attitude, so the Comintern decided to transfer Borodin and let Ji Jiashan implement the new strategy in China.

Chiang Kai-shek was not aware of Moscow's policy changes, and he still talked about the Northern Expedition whenever he met. After Zhuang Jihua was sure that Chiang Kai-shek would not return to the garrison headquarters for the time being, he went to Chiang Kai-shek's villa in Dongshan to ask to see Chiang Kai-shek, and Chiang Kai-shek soon met him in the study, and there was also a young man who came with Chiang Kai-shek.

"Lifu, come, let me introduce you, this is my best student Zhuang Jihua." Chiang Kai-shek said to the young man, and the young man walked up to Zhuang Jihua, stretched out his hand and said, "Hello, my name is Chen Zuyan, and my name is Lifu." ”

This name is a little familiar, it should be a celebrity, Zhuang Jihua immediately held his hand, and said with a smile on his face: "Principal Miao praised, my name is Zhuang Jihua, the word Cultural Revolution." ”

The two hands were clasped together, but their eyes interacted in the air, Chen Lifu was young and handsome, with a well-cut coffee-colored suit, a pair of black leather shoes under his feet, and the whole person was indescribably handsome.

Zhuang Jihua is also a talent in Chen Lifu's eyes, the combined gray military uniform, shiny riding boots, and the faint bookish aura between his eyebrows are mixed with the murderous aura tempered on the battlefield to form a different temperament.

"Okay, don't stand, sit down, Cultural Revolution." Chiang Kai-shek couldn't hide the joy in his eyes when he looked at the two people who were still clasped together: "Lifu, the Cultural Revolution also came back from the United States, you have to learn more from him in the future; During the Cultural Revolution, Lifu just came back from the United States, and he has no experience, so you have to help him more. ”

"The principal laughed, a talent like Mr. Chen should naturally stay with the principal, I am far away, I can't talk if I want to, and how dare I say something to advise." Zhuang Jihua's face was serious, and his tone didn't care; Chen Lifu was greatly surprised, he studied mining in the United States, returned to China in September last year, did not want to enter politics, but his brother Chen Guofu persuaded him to come to Guangzhou, meet the third uncle, Chiang Kai-shek and their uncle Chen Qimei are sworn brothers; Chiang Kai-shek also had a letter to him, asking Lifu to go to Guangzhou as soon as possible after returning to China. He was reluctant to enter politics, so he delayed his journey for a while. In the past two days, I followed Chiang Kai-shek everywhere to meet people, and everywhere I went, everyone respected and respected Chiang Kai-shek, and his student subordinates were even more respectful, but I didn't expect this Zhuang Jihua to be so casual. But what made him even more strange was that Chiang Kai-shek was still not angry.

"Lifu doesn't work next to me, I want him to go to you, starting with the deputy section chief." Chiang Kai-shek said to Zhuang Jihua.

Zhuang Jihua became cautious now: "Principal, are you kidding?" ”

A slight smile appeared on the corner of Chiang Kai-shek's mouth, Zhuang Jihua's reaction was expected by him, and he pretended to be angry and said: "Of course, this is still false." You're getting more and more unseemly now, and you talk to the chief like this. ”

Zhuang Jihua didn't seem to hear Chiang Kai-shek's complaints, he stood up excitedly: "It's better to be the principal, understand me, there is no problem." I know absolutely everything, I can't say anything; But, Headmaster, where am I going? ”

"You go there, of course you still do your section chief, Colonel Zhuang Jihua." Chiang Kai-shek didn't tell the truth and deliberately teased Zhuang Jihua.

"Headmaster, I'm a colonel, and the section chief is the position of major." Zhuang Jihua also went up the pole.

"You, a colonel, have wasted a lot of thought, why are you still not satisfied?" Chiang Kai-shek deliberately asked, he knew clearly how Zhuang Jihua was promoted to colonel, and Zhuang Jihua reported to him when he came down.

The corners of Zhuang Jihua's mouth twitched, and he smiled contemptuously and said, "Colonel, the admiral can still be considered." ”

Chiang Kai-shek smiled: "What a big breath, I am the general, you want to be a general." ”

"Napoleon said that a soldier who does not want to be a marshal is not a good soldier, and I just said that he is a general, and he has not said a marshal." Zhuang Jihua is a little ruffian, Chen Lifu is a little speechless, Chiang Kai-shek has always been very serious, and now he is actually interested in accompanying Zhuang Jihua to talk nonsense.

"Hehe, he became a marshal at such a young age, so what should I do in the future?" Chiang Kai-shek asked with a smile.

"Well, the marshal is already at the pinnacle of the military, in the future...... It's boring to do it again, and if you ...... it in the future, you will retire and change careers. Zhuang Jihua thought about it and said.

"Changing careers? What else can you do? Chiang Kai-shek was more interested now.

"Doing business, if I didn't come to Whampoa, I would have been a businessman, principal, to be honest, I am better in business than in soldiers. It took two years to become a colonel, and if I were in business, I would have a few million in two years. Zhuang Jihua was very shameless in bragging, at least Chiang Kai-shek and Chen Lifu thought he was bragging.

"Haha," Chiang Kai-shek finally couldn't help laughing: "Okay, okay, I'll take a stake when the time comes." ”

Zhuang Jihua's answer reassured him, this kid has amazing vision, intrigues and tricks are endless, but it is rare that he has no desire for power; The reorganization of the Sichuan Army, such a great achievement, how can a division commander be promoted if someone is changed, and he, he snubbed him for no reason, he was not angry, he was still in full swing in the intelligence department, and he also set up an intelligence school; However, it was this intelligence school that made him decide to transfer him from the intelligence department.

"How about a group for you?" Chiang Kai-shek asked tentatively, the regiment commander was relatively low to Zhuang Jihua, and his former subordinate Hu Zongnan served as the regiment commander.

"Thank you, Principal, for cultivating you." Zhuang Jihua agreed without the slightest hesitation, but he agreed too quickly, and Chiang Kai-shek looked at him suspiciously, wondering if he was sincere.

After a long time, Chiang Kai-shek said: "After the Cultural Revolution and the reorganization of the Sichuan Army, everyone else was promoted, only you, the captain, remained in place, and you finally built the intelligence department again, and the situation was opened, are you blaming me in your heart?" ”

Zhuang Jihua reined in and joked very seriously: "The principal misunderstood, I said at the beginning, I am not the material for intelligence, but there is no candidate for a while, so I have barely supported it until now, and now that there is a good candidate, I should be a virtuous." ”

Chiang Kai-shek nodded, Zhuang Jihua said such things to him at the beginning, but he didn't expect him to remember, which shows that he knows very well and really wants to let the intelligence department out.

"I have something to ask the principal for today," Chiang Kai-shek motioned to Zhuang Jihua to continue: "Wang Dongcheng (i.e. Wang Maogong) has asked me to report to him on the work of the Intelligence Section several times, and I have pushed him over, but he wants to find me again, what should I do?" ”

After Chiang Kai-shek's Eastern Crusade, Wang Maogong acted as commander of the Guangzhou garrison. After the end of the Eastern Crusade, Chiang Kai-shek stayed in Shantou, and Wang Maogong continued to act as an agent, but Zhuang Jihua didn't know what Wang Maogong thought, he actually wanted to straighten out, and asked Wang Jingwei for instructions every once in a while, or he was looking for Borodin or Ji Jiashan, he was also entrapping Zhuang Jihua, but Zhuang Jihua knew that he had committed Chiang Kai-shek's taboo, so he didn't dare to get too close to him, and the work of the intelligence department didn't dare to let him know.

When Wang Maogong was appointed, Wang Bailing privately told him that Wang Maogong was capricious and unreliable; I didn't expect to be approved by him, but now that Wang Maogong and Wang Jingwei are getting closer, he has some traps, and there is no good way for the time being.

"You leave him alone, don't let him know about the work of the intelligence department." Zhuang Jihua asked what to do, meaning that Wang Maogong was still not a person trusted by Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang Kai-shek's answer was very clear, he no longer trusted Wang Maogong: "Cultural Revolution, Lifu, you must remember that the work of the Intelligence Section is directly responsible to me, and no one else is allowed to interfere in the Intelligence Bureau." ”

"Yes."

"Understood."

The two replied separately. Then Zhuang Jihua made a detailed report to Chiang Kai-shek about his eighteen Arhats, and Zhuang Jihua gave his eighteen seeds a nice name, the Eighteen Arhats Project; Now that Chiang Kai-shek had decided to let Chen Lifu preside over the Intelligence Section, Zhuang Jihua would now begin to familiarize Chen Lifu with the work of the Intelligence Section.

"In the next few years, our army will inevitably go on a northern expedition, and the targets of the eighteen arhats will be Nanjing, Shanghai, Wuhan, and Yanjing. Li Zongren decided to pull Tang Shengzhi over, I think that even if he can't succeed, he can cause internal turmoil in Hunan, and then it will be Wu Peifu who can decide the fate of Hunan, so Wuhan will be the focus of future intelligence work, and then Sun Chuanfang, if our army fights Wu Peifu, Sun Chuanfang's attitude will become very important; It is said that the original is to put a long line to catch big fish. ”

"Why do you want to add a book?" Chiang Kai-shek was full of doubts and looked at Zhuang Jihua suspiciously.

"In the Northeast, I have interests in the Northeast, and if it goes well, I think we can reach Shanhaiguan in three years, and then we will have to face the Kwantung Army. Guo Songling's defeat is proof of this, so from now on, we must strengthen the espionage work of the book, but it is a little too late to start the layout of the book, and I hope it will play a role by then. Zhuang Jihua is full of nonsense, and the real one is prepared for twelve years later.

"Northern Expedition, well, good!" Chiang Kai-shek was excited when he mentioned the Northern Expedition, he couldn't help but stand up and walk to the middle of the room: "Flag to the north, to realize the prime minister's long-cherished wish, the Cultural Revolution, this year's Northern Expedition, do you think we can hit Wuhan?" ”

Zhuang Jihua was silent, but Chiang Kai-shek didn't pay attention, and said to himself: "If there is civil strife in Hunan, we will attack Wuhan through Hunan; Take Wuhan and then go down the river, arrive at Nanjing, and then divide the army into two routes, one way along the Jinghan Railway to the north, one along the Jinpu Railway to the north, the two roads in Henan back to the division, and then go straight to Yanjing, completely destroy the Beiyang political axe. ...... Cultural Revolution,"

Speaking of this, Chiang Kai-shek noticed that Zhuang Jihua's expression was very reluctant, and he immediately fell into a kind of loss, just like an actor who acted for a long time, but found that there was no audience in the audience, or the audience was not interested at all.

"What? Do you think that the Northern Expedition should not be done or that we cannot win? Chiang Kai-shek asked with a frown.

"Well, if the principal wants to ask, I'll tell you the truth, purely militarily speaking, I don't think there is a big problem, don't look at the many Beiyang Army, but there are contradictions between them, they can't act in unison, we can break them individually; But we were not politically prepared, and the Northern Expedition was likely to fail because of political differences. ”

"Oh! Then tell me about it. Chiang Kai-shek remembered the political and economic strategy that Borodin said, and Zhuang Jihua was no longer surprised that he had this kind of vision, but since he saw it, he also wanted to hear Zhuang Jihua's opinion.

"Politically, I think the main thing is the relationship between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, the workers' and peasants' movement, and the cadre problem." Chiang Kai-shek advocated the Northern Expedition, and Zhuang Jihua also seriously thought about the issue of the Northern Expedition: "The basis of the Northern Expedition was the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, but the separatist activities of the Xishan Conference faction affected the cooperation between the two parties, and the way of cooperation between the two parties was also reflected in [***], the evidence is the article published by Mr. Chen Duxiu in the "New Youth", and their negotiations with Sun Ke and Ye Chuyi at the Soviet Consulate in Shanghai; So I think we should negotiate with [***] at the appropriate time and change the current intra-party cooperation to extra-party cooperation. ”

This is Zhuang Jihua's consistent proposition of changing the party inside and outside the party, and Chiang Kai-shek is very clear, but at present, [***] has not clearly expressed its intention to revise the way the two parties cooperate.

"Cooperation outside the party is still cooperation between the KMT and the Communist Party, which does not violate the three major policies; The advantage is that the views of the two parties are clearly distinguished, and cross-party is not allowed, so that the two parties compete openly, and the people decide who wins and who loses, and who is in power and who is in the opposition. ”

"Secondly, the workers' and peasants' movement, we now do not have a clear guideline for the workers' and peasants' movement, the bottom line of the workers' and peasants' movement is there, and in Soviet Russia, the workers' and peasants' movement develops to the end, the factories are nationalized, and the land is divided equally among the countryside. Finally, there are cadres, whether we or [***] lack cadres, after the policy is formulated, cadres need to implement it, without enough cadres, the peasant movement is likely to deviate from the bottom line of policies and regulations. ”

Chiang Kai-shek heard that Zhuang Jihua and Borodin had different focuses, Borodin first thought about how to mobilize the masses, and Zhuang Jihua thought about how to control the masses. Perhaps this is the difference between a Kuomintang member and a [***] member.

"Therefore, it is necessary to immediately start formulating laws, first the Constitution, then the Labor Protection Law, and then the Peasant Protection Law, which will be the basis for the peasant and industrial movement, and at the same time tell the people of the whole country that the national political axe is different from the Beiyang political axe."

After pondering, Chiang Kai-shek nodded and agreed: "You talk to Zeng Kuoqing and He Jinhan to see what should be done, as for this," Chiang Kai-shek flipped through the eighteen Arhat documents handed to him by Zhuang Jihua: "I don't care about the specifics, you can discuss it." ”

(To be continued)