No. 53 Ji'e Lane, Nanjing, is a mysterious compound.

There is no information on any of the published maps, no house numbers are displayed, and not even office phones are registered with the telephone office. The entire compound is encased in a wall more than five meters high and one meter thick, and although there are no signs of a military restricted area, the gate is guarded by heavily armed military police, and there are people patrolling around it.

The doors are always closed, and the few black Austin cars that come out are hurried past and then the gates are slammed shut.

In the new government, only a few high-ranking people know that this is the headquarters of the Reserve Cadre Department of the Ministry of National Defense, referred to as the State Cadre Office, and some people call it Compound No. 53.

This is an important intelligence agency of the new government, of course, this important intelligence agency is not affiliated with the new government in Guangzhou, but directly belongs to the front command headquarters of the Northern Expeditionary Army.

The Reserve Cadre Division has been fully transformed into an intelligence investigation and collection agency, and the administrative level has been expanded to the rank of regular army.

After entering the city of Nanjing, the functions of this organization were further clarified, the institutional setup was further optimized, and everything became more and more formal.

After the Northern Expeditionary Army occupied half of the country, the personnel and material resources that could be mobilized were incomparable with those that could not be compared with before, a large number of espionage and deciphering talents were enriched into the ranks, and some eavesdropping and deciphering equipment imported from abroad were also equipped.

However, in such a perfect situation, Yang Yibing made an unforgivable mistake.

On 28 March, the Ministry of Intelligence intercepted a telegram from the office of the President in Guangzhou. The content of the message is very simple, just a reminder that "during the rainy season, the weather changes, pay attention to pack your clothes and take care of your body", etc., it seems to be an ordinary reminder message. But in the next few days, they intercepted several telegrams from the chairman's office in Guangzhou, and the messages were surprisingly consistent.

This immediately attracted the attention of Intelligence Minister Li Zetian, who felt that there must be some connection, otherwise the chairman's office would not have sent a telegram to remind him one by one. Li Zetian ordered people to follow up on this information and sent people to compile all the messages.

After a few days, Li Zetian discovered that the telegram was sent from the chairman's office, and that all the receiving units were military and police and some other important management departments. According to the news that I received from the Guangzhou Station of the State Cadre Office, not long ago, the chairman specially convened a meeting of party members of the military and police departments at a meeting of the Kuomintang Party; In addition, recently Guangzhou and other places have been frequently mobilizing military and police, and internal screening of party members of color political parties has also been carried out.

Now the department that electrifies the whole country, is it?

A bad thought came to Li Zetian's mind. Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately instructed his men to analyze and summarize the matter, and at the same time, he also shook the phone in his hand.

"Help me take over Comrade Volunteers' office, yes, Li Zetian of the Intelligence Department here." Li Zetian held the microphone tightly in his hand, and his slightly hoarse Huaidi accent echoed in the office.

"Minister Li, Comrade Volunteer Soldier is out" According to the rules of the Reserve Cadres Department of the Ministry of National Defense, the subordinates do not address their superiors with their positions, but directly address Comrade So-and-so, so as to show equality, and secondly, they can increase internal cohesion and discipline awareness.

"When will he be back? I have important matters to report to Comrade Volunteers. Li Zetian on the other end of the phone was a little anxious, I don't know if it was the weather or because of nervousness, some sweat was already oozing from his head.

"I don't know, Comrade Volunteer went to the Nanjing Municipal Government, and I don't know the specific matters very well." After the secretary answered, Li Zetian clenched the microphone again and said, "Secretary Wang, please let me know by phone when Comrade Yibing comes back, I have an important situation to report."

"Okay, I got it"

After the call, Li Zetian on the other end of the phone fell into thought. At this time, thousands of miles away, in the office of the chairman of the national government in Guangzhou, a confidential message was spreading outward like snowflakes. Similarly, in the urban area of Guangzhou, the garrison troops were constantly moving back and forth, and officers and men wearing red armbands and carrying * began to be stationed in various classified units, and no one knew what these people wanted to do.

Some people did smell the smell of blood, but at that time no one dared to draw conclusions, and the common people closed their doors and windows and watched the movement of troops in the street through the cracks, as if watching a bustle that had nothing to do with them.

Jingle - Bell! In the middle of the night, the phone in front of Li Zetian's desk rang, and he was awakened when he had just fallen asleep in front of the table.

"Comrade Yibing, I'm Li Zetian, I have something important to report to you" Li Zetian quickly told the story of the matter, and Yang Yibing on the other end of the phone couldn't help but sweat his palms after hearing it.

"You quickly came to my office with the materials, and I want to report to Comrade Xinghua with you" Leaving the phone, Li Zetian hurriedly came to the office with the materials, and through the phone, he reported the situation to Huang Ke one by one.

Huang Ke was unusually calm after hearing this, because he knew that this incident was inevitable in history, the interests between the two parties were there, the contradictions were irreconcilable, and the interests were eventually expanded, and it was completely impossible to completely avoid changes on the battlefield.

However, Huang Ke also realized that if the purging action took place at this time, it would have an extremely negative impact on the ongoing Northern Expedition, and there might be some infighting in his army.

"You are now quickly mobilizing personnel from various departments and offices, monitoring all actions and reporting at any time, and in case of a major situation, you can report to me at any time, is it clear?"

"Understood!" The two men answered in unison on the other end of the phone.

After this side was ready, Huang Ke immediately convened a meeting of the General Staff, and after deliberation, the staff officers took out several orders and ordered the whole army: "1. All actions are subject to the orders of the Northern Expeditionary Army Headquarters, and no one or department is allowed to send personnel to the Northern Expeditionary Army; 2. The appointment and dismissal of officers above the battalion level must be approved by the Northern Expeditionary Army Headquarters; 3. The local government does not have the right to transfer the troops stationed there, and if it needs to be moved, it must be approved by the Northern Expeditionary Army Command ......".

After issuing these documents, Huang Ke breathed a sigh of relief. Now that the Northern Expeditionary Army's three-way army has been released in many places in half of China, as long as these armies do not mess up the party, the overall situation can be stabilized.

However, although they were well arranged, they were still a step late.

One night three days later, there were no stars in the night sky, and it was pitch black. In an auditorium on the outskirts of Guangzhou, more than 300 workers are meeting together under the help of a trade union, discussing how to fight for more rights in the factory in order to make their lives better. Because there were not many kerosene lamps in the auditorium, and the podium in front of the Great Hall was still bright, and the bottom was all dark, and all eyes were on the man in the middle of the auditorium, who was dressed in a worker's uniform, his name was Ah Fu, a leader of the workers' organization, and he was one of the initiators of this event.

"Brothers workers! We produce so many things, why can't we have enough to eat? But why do those bosses and gentlemen do nothing, but live in western-style buildings and eat Western food every day? Have you ever thought about these questions? Why is all this? Is it because we are inherently lowly? ”

Ah Fu's words were indeed very agitating, and soon the emotions of more than 300 workers moved him.

Just as Ah Fu was about to tell the root cause, suddenly, a rapid but orderly footsteps came.

"Quick!" "Get out of the car!" For a while, the sound of passwords, footsteps, and weapons colliding came and went. The workers slowed down their high spirits for a moment and looked outward.

Some of them had not yet reached the door, when hundreds of heavily armed officers and soldiers surrounded the assembly place.

A worker in charge of the guard asked the officer in front of him the reason, and a captain wearing a red armband who walked in front slapped him and said: "After receiving an order from the top, you people gathered illegally and hid weapons without permission, and all of them were taken away!" ”

"Why take us away?" "That's it! Fight them to the end! "When a few young workers saw how unreasonable the police were, they took out the weapons of the workers' pickets and opened fire.

As soon as the gunshots rang out, the officers and soldiers who were about to rush in to lead the people immediately opened fire, and Ah Fu, who was standing at the highest point, fell in a pool of blood, and the two sides exchanged fire in front of the synagogue.

Where were the well-trained military and police opponents of the workers' pickets, which had only a few guns, blood was pouring down in front of the Great Hall, and more than 30 workers were killed on the spot, and the rest were all captured.

In the aftermath of this incident, Wang Ching-wai explicitly supported the military and police operation in a government document, announcing a "purge of a small number of political parties" and declaring that all KMT members must secede*.

Soon after, the new government carried out a vigorous purge campaign in Guangzhou: a large number of workers' armed forces were disarmed by force throughout the city, and the resisters were either imprisoned or shot dead on the spot; In some key departments, color party members were also secretly arrested......

For a time, officers and men of the military police guards wearing red armbands attacked everywhere, and some were even shot dead on the spot. In fact, the reason for this incident has been a long time, and the faction in the new government headed by Wang Ching-wei and others advocated the one-party system of the Kuomintang at a very early stage, so that in their eyes, the color party has become like a thorn in the side. In this regard, Wang Jingwei and the various foreigners and warlords in the Shanghai concession had the same goal.

In the operation that followed shortly after, they also proved it with their actions.