Chapter 437 - Right Arm (I)

With the sound of the whistle, a steamer passenger ship drums westward. The sea surface is sparkling, calm as silk in the sun, and several seabirds soar on the sea, adding a bit of freedom of "the sea is wide and the fish jumps, and the sky is high for the birds to fly".

This is a steamship China Merchants under the regular liner, running the Nanjing-Hangzhou route, some days ago the national situation was turbulent, the liner was suspended, the United Front into the main center, the liner resumed the route, this ship is also the first ship after the resumption of the route.

There are not many passengers on the ship, just one hundred and ten people, except for the merchants and men of the Zhejiang merchant gang, the rest are basically soldiers, in order not to lose money, this passenger ship has to act as the horn of the cargo ship, the bilge, the deck are full of a large number of bulk cargo, even on the deck of the bow, there are dozens of willow baskets, but the inside is not ordinary goods, but new military uniforms. It was the gray 'color' military uniform of the original republican army in Hubei.

In fact, most of the goods on this passenger ship were consigned by the Hubei military administration, and the unimportant goods were placed in the cabin and on the deck, and the important goods, such as munitions, military salaries and other materials, were placed in the bottom compartment, and the person responsible for escorting this batch of goods was none other than Jiang Fangzhen, the highest commander in charge of logistics of the Republican Army.

It is said that to transport military supplies, special ships should be used as much as possible, and idle people should be avoided waiting on board, but now the logistical pressure is too great, so there is not so much attention.

Now, Jiang Fangzhen is standing at the bow of the boat, standing against the wind, looking at the vast sea, and experiencing the calmness and generosity of "the sea is wide and the fish jumps, and the sky is high and the birds fly".

When Jiang Fangzhen went to Hangzhou, in addition to escorting these arms and uniforms, he also had another task, that is, to take over the post of chief of staff of the "East Route Column" of the United Front, and to assist Xu Chongzhi, commander of the East Route Column, in reorganizing this United Front unit stationed in Hangzhou, unifying it into the national defense force, and completing the first step in regularizing and unifying the army.

The "United Front East Road Column" was formed before the last Great War of the North and South, and the original chief of staff of the column was Xiong Chengji, but after the end of the Great War, Xiong Chengji resigned from the post of chief of staff of the column and began to concentrate on assisting Song Jiaoren in sorting out the party affairs of the United Front, and later Song Jiaoren was assassinated. Xiong Chengji even shouldered the party affairs of the united front, and it was impossible to manage the army work at all, so Xu Chongzhi, commander of the East Route Column, sent a telegram to the Central Governor, asking for instructions on the reorganization of the East Route Column, and recommended several suitable candidates for chief of staff to the Central Committee, but in the end, the chief of staff who was decided by the Central Committee was Jiang Fangzhen.

A telegram, Jiang Fangzhen was relieved of the post of logistics chief, with a ship of military supplies, but also with the spirit of the eastward journey to Hangzhou, but when the ship arrived in Nanjing, the machine broke down, can only transfer in Nanjing, and at this time, another telegram from the center came, so the chief of staff of Chiang had another job———— to assist Xu Chongzhi in the southern expedition to Fujian, in order to respond to the center's counterinsurgency action in Guangdong.

At that time, the news of the "Guangdong Incident" had not yet been officially reported, and Jiang Fangzhen did not know much about the inside story, but he also understood that this matter should not be taken lightly. So they directly exerted pressure on the steamship China Merchants Bureau through their connections, forcing them to advance the departure date of the liner by one day, so that Jiang Fangzhen and this batch of military supplies could rush to Hangzhou as soon as possible.

If the Jiangfang fleet was still in the Yangtze River, Jiang Fangzhen could go to Hangzhou faster, but since the end of the Great War, Tang Xiangming led the Jiangfang fleet north to Tianjin, and after that, there were basically no large warships in the Yangtze River, so Jiang Fangzhen had to take a civilian ship to Hangzhou.

Since this road is full speed, the liner went very fast, and now, the passenger ship has sailed into Hangzhou Bay, and in a few hours you can see the Qiantang River, and the city of Hangzhou is not far away.

In "Wushen**", Hangzhou has always been the base camp of the Restoration Society, and it is also the station of the Zhejiang military and political fǔ, the former governor of Zhejiang is Tao Chengzhang, the leader of the Restoration Society, after the assassination of Tao, the Zhejiang military and political fǔ and the provincial parliament Ben' Although Tang Shouqian was supported by Yuan Shikai, he could not take office, therefore, the post of governor of Zhejiang was in name only, and later the confrontation between the north and the south developed into a war, Tang Shouqian could not stay anymore, and simply left, so the General Affairs Committee of the United Front appointed Xu Chongzhi, commander of the East Road Column, to act as the governor of Zhejiang. The chairman of the Zhejiang Provincial Assembly is Li Xiehe.

Some time ago, Wang Zhanyuan, the governor of Shandong, and Yan Xishan, the governor of Jiangxi, were instructed by Zhao Bei to launch the "Abolition of the Military and Political Governors and Governors of the Provinces".

This is the basic situation of Zhejiang now, in many southern provinces, Zhejiang is the most calm situation, although Hangzhou has almost become the battlefield of the north-south 'confrontation', but in the end there is no fighting, and with the first army of the Beiyang southward march to the united front, Zhejiang's situation is basically stabilized, coupled with the recovery of the party's severe suppression of the Zhejiang Hui Party after the **, it is not surprising that Zhejiang is regarded as a "model province" by Fujian, Jiangsu and other provinces.

But as an insider, Jiang Fangzhen understands that the calm in Zhejiang is only on the surface, and under this calm surface lies the struggle for power and profit, which is the struggle between the party forces and the constitutionalist forces on the one hand, and the struggle between the forces of the League and the Restoration Society on the other hand, in the last Great War of the North, with the arrival of Xu Chongzhi's Fujian army and Li Liejun's Jiangxi army. Although after the establishment of the United Front, both Zhao Bei and Song Jiaoren were emphasizing this "unity", but as two ** organizations with discord and differences, the unity of the League and the Restoration Society was not so easy to maintain, not to mention, it was also mixed with the 'fierce' conflict between personal interests, Hangzhou, is not a paradise.

After Tao Chengzhang was assassinated, the competition for the "Governor of Zhejiang" was a contest between the three forces in Hangzhou, at the beginning. Although Xu Chongzhi, a figure in the Alliance, acted as the governor of Zhejiang, but the alliance did not last long, and after Zhao Bei replaced Xu Shichang as the president of the Republic of China, Xu Chongzhi had to "take the initiative" to resign from the post of governor of Zhejiang. As a result of the fierce political struggle, only this time, it was the forces of the Liberation Society that united the forces of the Constituent Society, and there was also the central government to support them, and if Xu Chongzhi did not resign voluntarily, he would probably be ousted from power in disgrace.

Although the military and political government in Zhejiang have now been abolished and the division of military and civilian rule has been implemented in name, Jiang Fangzhen knows very well that as long as the forces of all parties cannot be integrated, then the calm situation in Zhejiang will not last long, in fact, the secret telegram given to him by the central center the day before yesterday has repeatedly emphasized the importance of uniting the forces of all parties, and among them, uniting Xu Chongzhi, commander of the Fujian army, is the first priority.

Xu Chongzhi word Ruwei, Guangdong Panyu people, once entered the Fujian Mawei Ship Master School, and later went to Japan, into the non-commissioned officer school, this is the first phase of the infantry section, but due to lack of age changed to the third phase of the infantry section, and Jiang Fangzhen, Zhou Daogang, Qu Tongfeng and others are classmates, and Cai Yi, Wu Guangxin, Zhang Xiaozhun and others are classmates, this person and joined the League in 1905, after returning to China, he served as a teacher and assistant of the Fujian Wubei School, "Wushen **", this person actively responded to the League to launch the Fuzhou Uprising, after the recovery of Fujian, Xu Chongzhi served as the commander-in-chief of the Fujian army at the age of 22. It can be described as high-spirited and ambitious.

Xu Chongzhi's ability to serve as the commander-in-chief of the Fujian Army is inseparable from the support of Mr. Sun, the leader of the Alliance, and it is precisely because of this that he is very loyal to Mr. Sun, and some soldiers die for their confidants.

After the outbreak of the "Guangdong Incident", Xu Chongzhi's position became very delicate, on the one hand, he opposed a head-on confrontation with the central government at this time, and on the other hand, he did not believe that Tao Chengzhang's death was directly related to the leader of the League, and he personally insisted that Tao Chengzhang's assassination was committed by Chen Qimei's "radical" faction, and had nothing to do with the League or the leader.

It was from this stance that Xu Chongzhi did not respond to the orders of the top leaders of the League, made some moves in Hangzhou, nor did he report to the central government.

But Xu Chongzhi himself thinks that he is the way of the "golden mean", which does not mean that the center also sees it this way, in the secret telegram that Jiang Fangzhen received, Zhao Bei repeatedly warned him that if there is any change in the commander Xu, the president authorized Chief of Staff Jiang to take "decisive action" when necessary to take over the command of the Fujian army, and Li Liejun, the commander of the Jiangxi army, also received a secret telegram with the same content, and the two of them can easily relieve Xu Chongzhi of military power.

Jiang Fangzhen was a little unacceptable to this order of the center, after all, he and Xu Chongzhi were not only classmates, but also knew 'made' friends, and Jiang Fangzhen knew more about Xu's 'sexual' character, and he understood that the main reason why Xu Chongzhi would adopt the "golden mean" on the issue of the "Guangdong Incident" was that this person was too young, too superficial in his view of things, and indeed too stupid and loyal to the past leaders, and had no personal experience of the cruel 'sex' of political struggle.

In the end, less is more.

Although Jiang Fangzhen is only five years older than Xu Chongzhi, his experience is much deeper than him, not only because of Jiang Fangzhen's encounter in the military circles of the three eastern provinces, but also because Jiang Fangzhen followed Zhao Bei all the way. It will definitely not be President Zhao who suffers.

Otherwise, Zhao Bei would not dominate the center at the age of twenty-seven, try to look at the world, in this era, how many people can do better than him?

Therefore, Jiang Fangzhen decided to persuade that Commander Xu after he arrived in Hangzhou, let him open his mind, and let him see clearly whose China is in the future, and if he wants to realize his dream of becoming a military power, it is unrealistic to follow the alliance, and only by following President Zhao and Commander-in-Chief Zhao is the only correct choice for soldiers.

If the Battle of Henan shattered the self-confidence of the Beiyang Army, then the victory of that battle also enhanced the confidence of the powerful soldiers in the south, Jiang Fangzhen, Zhou Daogang, Cai Yi, Zhang Xiaozhun, etc., the reason why these people chose to follow Zhao Bei to the end is precisely for this reason.

I hope Xu Chongzhi can also understand this, Zhao Bei has proved his ability with his practical actions, China in this era needs such an "all-rounder" too much, no matter whether Zhao Bei will become the savior of the country in the future, at least for now, Jiang Fangzhen, Cai Yi, Zhou Daogang, Zhang Xiaozhun These young talents are planning to serve Commander-in-Chief Zhao.

Last time, a reporter asked Zhao Bei, who is his right-hand man now, Zhao Bei smiled and said the names of two people, one is Li Yuanhong, and the other is Jiang Fangzhen, just for the trust of the commander-in-chief, Jiang Fangzhen is also determined to be the commander-in-chief's right-hand man.