"Well, that's good, how about pulling him over?" Li Zongren proposed.

Ye Qi couldn't help but be stunned, and Zhuang Jihua couldn't help but be surprised, this Li Zongren's idea was really wild; Bai Chongxi also couldn't keep up with Li Zongren's rhythm, he couldn't help but ask: "Duke De, can you do it?" ”

Li Zongren said with great confidence: "Look at it, I must draw him into the revolutionary camp." ”

During the talks on the afternoon of the next day, Li Zongren made a big concession and agreed to reduce the Guangxi troops of the two armies to a total of nine brigades of the first army without divisional numbers, and the number of troops was also promised to be reduced to 28,000 men, but the only condition he put forward was that the Kuomintang and the political axe must provide part of the funds to help Guangxi establish a reserve system; Song Ziwen hesitated for a long time, but finally agreed. So both sides rejoiced.

Zhuang Jihua sincerely admires Li Zongren, when he is decided, he will give up, and turn the conspiracy into a conspiracy; This person's bearing, mind, and vision are very within the reach of others, no wonder the arrogance of Xiao Zhuge Bai Chongxi is also willing to be under him. In history, Li Zongren was mentioned the most as the commander-in-chief of the Taierzhuang Campaign, and militarily promoted Bai Chongxi as the first in the Gui department, and Li Zongren's commanding ability was underestimated. After the Northern Expedition, the Gui faction was repeatedly defeated in the Kuomintang civil war, but it never collapsed, except for Yu Zuobai's rebellion, it never lost the Guangxi base area, and the leader also ascended the presidential throne on the eve of the defeat from the mainland, while the Feng Yuxiang group of the Northwest Army, which was the first in military strength, had already dispersed.

Guangxi's reserve was later revised and finally perfected. Twelve years later, when the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression broke out, only Guangxi and the three provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan, which Zhuang Jihua presided over and influenced, had a relatively complete reserve system, and Guangxi's reserve system was recognized as the most perfect.

All the missions of Song Ziwen and his entourage were successfully completed, and before leaving Guangxi, Zhuang Jihua found that Guangxi announced Ye Qi's visit with great fanfare in the newspapers, but it was only changed from Zhao Hengti's representative to Tang Shengzhi's representative. Zhuang Jihua understood Li Zongren's intentions after a little thought, thinking about Ye Qi's demeanor when he saw the newspaper, he couldn't help laughing, Song Ziwen and Chen Gongbo couldn't help but be a little surprised, Zhuang Jihua pointed to the newspaper and told the two of them as it was, and the two couldn't help laughing.

However, after returning to Guangzhou, Zhuang Jihua went to the school, and after briefly asking him about his departure, he focused on inspecting the No. 6, No. 10, and No. 12 students, and then sent them to Wuhan and Changsha with the task of finding out Wu Peifu's movements. Then Wang Xiaoshan was transferred from the Guangzhou intelligence group and sent to Wuhan as the local intelligence commander.

At the end of November, Zou Lu, Xie Zhi, Lin Sen, Ju Zheng, and other members of the Kuomintang Central Committee convened a Fourth Plenary Session of the Central Committee before the coffin of Sun Yat-sen at Biyun Temple in Xishan, Yanjing, declaring that China was "illegal" and passed anti-Soviet, anti-Kuomintang, and anti-Kuomintang-Communist cooperation bills such as "canceling the membership of [***] members of the Kuomintang Central Executive Committee", "expelling [***] members of the Kuomintang Central Executive Committee, and dismissing adviser Borodin. Dai Jitao and Sun Ke, who attended the meeting, did not sign their names, and the Xishan Conference faction then established the Kuomintang Central Party Department in Shanghai to compete with the Kuomintang Central Party Department in Guangzhou, and the Kuomintang was openly split internally.

The main figures of the Xishan Conference faction were all veterans of the Kuomintang and had a great influence within the party, and the Kuomintang Central Committee had no choice but to take it seriously, and Wang Ching-wei proposed to convene a second national congress, which should not only sum up the achievements of the three major policies since they were proposed, but also organize and deal with the Xishan Conference faction, and Wang Ching-wei's proposal was supported by Borodin.

The Kuomintang is not calm internally, and [***] is also reviewing the gains and losses of the alliance with the Kuomintang.

Since the May Revolution, the problems exposed by the [***] organization have aroused the worries of the party's top brass, and the remarks within the party reflecting on the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party have gradually increased, and Chen Duxiu has taken the opportunity to once again propose to withdraw from the Kuomintang and implement cooperation outside the party. Chen Duxiu was always skeptical of intra-party cooperation, and only because of the prestige of the Comintern and the pressure from within the party had to give in.

At the beginning of October, the Central Committee convened the Second Plenary Session of the Fourth Central Committee in Yanjing, and Chen Duxiu formally proposed to withdraw from the Kuomintang, but the Comintern representative Vychensky, on behalf of the Comintern, resolutely opposed it, and further proposed that the Kuomintang had only two factions, Wang Jingwei and Chiang Kai-shek, with the leftists and Dai Jitao as the rightists, and demanded that while cooperating more closely with the leftists, it was also necessary to unite the rightists, maintain the unity of the Kuomintang, and realize a comprehensive united front through the Kuomintang. The Comintern also warned the leaders not to take charge of the work of the Kuomintang and the Kuomintang, to withdraw from some leading posts, and not to meddle in the army.

In the summer, Dai Jitao published "The National Revolution and the Chinese Kuomintang" and "The Philosophical Research Foundations of Sun Wenism", which was regarded as a representative of the New Right, but this assertion was not accepted by the advisers of the Comintern. Apparently the Comintern also shared this view, and the resolution of the Second Plenum was only a tactic of Vychensky, which he had no intention of implementing.

At the Second Plenum of the Central Committee, Vychensky also saved face for Chen Duxiu, and the meeting agreed that comrades who had newly joined the party should not join the Kuomintang unless necessary, and that the strategy of the Kuomintang in the future should no longer emphasize uniting the left and overthrowing the rightists, but should withdraw from the whirlpool and let the left and right factions of the Kuomintang fight each other.

In early December, the leaders of [***] [***] Chen Duxiu, Zhang Guotao, and Cai Hesen held negotiations with Sun Ke, Ye Chuling, and Shao Yuanchong at the Soviet Consulate in Shanghai. [***] will not co-opt the number of members of the Kuomintang Central Committee at the Second National Congress of the Kuomintang; The number of members of the Central Committee and the Supervisory Committee shall not exceed one-third; [***] Do not exclude loyal members of the Kuomintang, and ensure that the other party will return to Guangdong to participate in the Second National Congress of the Kuomintang, and will never be harmed by this. At the end of December, Dai Jitao, Sun Ke, and Ye Chuyi boarded a ship in Shanghai and returned to Guangzhou to attend the Second Kuomintang Congress. Chen Duxiu also sent Zhang Guotao as the secretary of the [***] party group at the time of the Second National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and went to Guangzhou to be responsible for on-site command.

When the internal turmoil between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party gradually increased, the war was developing smoothly, the Eastern Crusade had ended victoriously, and the rest of Chen Jiongming fled into Fujian, where he was absorbed and dismissed by Zhou Yinren; The southern expedition was also very smooth, and the National Revolutionary Army fought in Keenping and Yangjiang; Yu Zuobai besieged Gaozhou, and Chen Mingshu attacked Hua County; Li Jishen led Zhang Fakui's troops to join the southern front operation, and after the end of the Eastern Expedition, Chen Jitang's troops also moved south to Gaozhou, so that almost all the troops of the Fourth Army were concentrated in Gaozhou and Leizhou; In view of this, the Military Council transferred the Second and Third Armies back to their original defenses, reappointed Li Jishen as the commander-in-chief of the Southern Expeditionary Army, and prepared to cross the sea to fight.

After Zhuang Jihua came back, he handed over the report to Wang Jingwei, and then copied a copy and handed it to Chiang Kai-shek, who was far away in Shantou, and when Chiang Kai-shek was reading Zhuang Jihua's report at night, he was alarmed by a noise coming from outside the door, and he wondered in his heart who was so bold and dared to shout at the general headquarters, but when he went out, it was Liao Bin, Pan Youqiang, Leng Xin, and other dozen or so people who excitedly dragged Li Gongxia, director of the Political Department of the First Division, and the two sides quarreled so much that their faces were red.

"What a system! Not yet a little like a revolutionary soldier! Chiang Kai-shek scolded.

After discovering that Chiang Kai-shek was in front of them, everyone hurriedly stopped arguing and saluted Chiang Kai-shek, and then Liao Bin angrily reported to Chiang Kai-shek: "Report to the commander-in-chief, we found that [***] is engaged in secret activities in the army. ”

After speaking, he took out a report from his pocket and handed it to Chiang Kai-shek, who did not immediately open it after taking it, but said coldly: "I have repeatedly stressed that the army must put discipline first, and you must carefully review what you look like, and after you go back, everyone will copy the code of conduct for military personnel ten times." ”

After opening the report, Chiang Kai-shek was even more surprised, this is an unfinished debriefing report:

“… I had arrived at Shiwan No. 3 with the First Division, and those who had not yet filled out the report were not comrades all around, but lived in the same room (division commander, chief of staff, etc.), and although the Political Department was in its own place, there were also mixed outsiders, so there was no opportunity to fill out the report, so I had to write a letter for the time being, begging for forgiveness. On the part of the officers, how can the division commanders understand the necessity and value of political work, so that there is no obstacle to our work, and we can go in secret, and take the opportunity to propagate our doctrine. …。 ”

A hint of anger flashed on Chiang Kai-shek's face, and Fang frowned and asked Li Gongxia: "You wrote this?" Li Gongxia nodded: "Yes, this is my work report." ”

"Headmaster, [***] This is a small organization secretly developed within the army, secretly hollowing out our Kuomintang." Liao Bin was still excited, and Pan Youqiang and others also echoed.

To be honest, Chiang Kai-shek was also very angry at the beginning, Li Gongxia regarded the Kuomintang as a "non-comrade", everything should be "carried out in secret", and he would propagate "[***] ideas" when he found an opportunity, but in the blink of an eye, Chiang Kai-shek calmed down again, [***] has always been secretly active, and even he, the principal, did not know that those students in the military academy were members, and Li Gongxia was a member of the [***] member, so he naturally had to do something to do as a member.

"Is there anything you can do publicly, you don't need to do it in secret, this principal has no objection [***]." Despite understanding, Chiang Kai-shek couldn't help but sarcastically.

"Commander-in-chief, you have misunderstood," Li Gongxia defended: "I am a member of the cross-party party, and now there is a trend of opposition within the Kuomintang against [***], if I openly propagate [***], then they will not even more slander [***] and want to hollow out the Kuomintang." ”

"You don't see us as comrades, we're just outsiders, headmaster, these [***] members have different intentions." Pan Youqiang accused.

"Yes, Headmaster, [***] members should be kicked out of the army, or at least monitored." Leng Xin shouted.

"Presumptuous!" Chiang Kai-shek was furious: "The United Russia and the Communist Party were proposed by the prime minister, do you want to oppose the prime minister?" Whoever says anything about sabotaging the cooperation between the KMT and the CCP in the future will be driven away. ”

Although Liao Bin, Pan Youqiang and others were still excited, no one dared to speak out, although Chiang Kai-shek said this, but he was very conflicted in his heart.

"Principal," Leng Xin felt very distressed, Chiang Kai-shek was still partial in front of obvious evidence, and he said with tears in his eyes: "I am a member of the Kuomintang, I admire the premier, and I am a staunch believer in the premier; But I don't object to [***]'s proposition, but I am against them secretly colluding, not daring to do things openly and honestly, and engaging in small collectives behind our party's back, Li Gongxia has proven this, why do you still favor them. ”

Chiang Kai-shek looked at Leng Xin, and then at Pan Youqiang, Liao Bin and others, he suddenly realized that this matter should not be handled well today, I am afraid that these Kuomintang students will be separated from him, and turn to someone with a heart to win over, Li Zhilong has been pulled away, and is reaching out to Zhuang Jihua, it seems that Zhuang Jihua is loyal to himself, and he has not concealed anything at all, his position should be moved, and he can't stay in the intelligence section all the time, and the section chief is not made by a colonel.

"It's wrong for Li Gongxia to do this, and I don't approve of him doing this, but he is a member of the Political Department, and I have no right to deal with him, only the representatives of the Wang Party and the Zhou Party have the right to deal with him, and now they are not there, and when the Zhou Party representatives come back from Chaozhou, I will suggest to him that they be dealt with strictly." I am also a member of the Kuomintang and a believer in the premier, and it is my responsibility to safeguard the interests of the Kuomintang. ”

It was easy for Chiang Kai-shek to calm down his excited subordinates, and two days later, when Zhou Enlai returned from Chaozhou, Chiang Kai-shek convened a meeting of party representatives and directors of political departments of all divisions, at which Chiang Kai-shek focused not on the Li Gongxia incident, but on the lax work of the regiments.

"......, now that discipline is lax, some of the army officers and commanders do not return home at night, some wear military uniforms indiscriminately, some forcibly recruit people's husbands, some abuse soldiers, and even dare to gather in the army to gamble; What do these problems mean, it shows that the lax discipline in our army has reached a shocking level, and the main reason is that the party departments of the regiments have not played a role; If you beat away a Chen Jiongming, you can put Nanshan on the horse, and put the knives and guns into storage? …。 Chiang Kai-shek was heartbroken.

Zhou Enlai had to criticize himself, but Chiang Kai-shek did not allow him to continue: "Enlai, you don't have to accept it on behalf of others, you are a member of the Dongjiang Administrative Committee, the Dongjiang River has been through the flames of war, and the people's livelihood is difficult to recover, and your work is already difficult, mainly because of you, you have not fulfilled your responsibilities, and party representatives at all levels are derelict in their duties." Chiang Kai-shek pointed to the party deputies and the director of the political department present, and then felt that his words seemed to be too heavy: "Of course, this has something to do with the fact that the army has been established for too short, and I ask you to immediately strengthen political work, first focusing on the first division, and then promoting the whole army, so as to live up to the name of the party army." ”

After Chiang Kai-shek vented, he finally brought up the matter of Li Gongxia, Zhou En came to ask if he wanted to transfer Li Gongxia away, Chiang Kai-shek said no, and then put forward two opinions: "First, the activities of quasi-[***] members of the army in the school, but all actions must be made public; 2. The Prime Minister allowed [***] members to cross the Kuomintang, but not allowed Kuomintang members to cross [***], but did not explicitly say that it was not allowed, and now the school and the army do not prohibit Kuomintang members from joining [***], but those who join [***] must declare to the special party department of the school for permission. ”

These two resolutions were naturally passed, and after the meeting, Chiang Kai-shek invited Zhou En to talk alone.

(To be continued)