Guangzhou in winter is not cold, but the sea breeze is a little cool; The sea breeze blowing on the surface of the sea penetrates into the streets and alleys, making the warmth of the whole city disappear.

On the streets, people came and went changed into clothes that were only worn in the autumn of the north, and the trendy people changed into national costumes with stand-up collars and tweed cloaks; Intellectual women wore blouses with lute cuffs and short skirts that reached to the ankles, while others wore hats and Western-style lapel suits, and the thriving commodity economy was vividly reflected here.

Towards the end of the year, Huang Ke returned to Guangzhou with the teaching team, one said that he was planning the Northern Expedition, and the other said that he wanted to strip him of his military power, and he was not sure what the reason was.

After stabilizing the southwest, the New Revolutionary Army recruited a large number of new soldiers, and reorganized and supplemented the strength of the Dian Army and the Gui Army, expanding the strength to nearly 100,000 at once.

Huang Ke, who was accustomed to living a poor life before the crossing, panicked, holding an elite army of 100,000 in his hand, and his heart was a little fluttering; Before I crossed over, where did I enjoy this kind of treatment? married a Republic of China version of Guan Zhilin, and mixed with a feudal official with heavy troops, thinking about it, it really seems like a dream.

However, Huang Ke kept saying that he was not shocked, what are the 100,000 soldiers in the southwestern provinces? In the future, Lao Tzu will sweep East Asia with a million-strong army and lay down a large territory.

In fact, the establishment of the 100,000-strong army is still four armies, and the four armies are divided into two factions, namely the Fourth Army of the First Army, which is dominated by Jiang Xianyun, Hu Zongnan, and Lin Zuoda's military academy faction, and the second and third armies of the old teaching teams such as Cui Wu and Wang Maocai, in addition to them, there are also officers and soldiers from Hunan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other places, and the differences between localities make the ranks begin to be clearly divided into several different factions.

There is not much difference in equipment between the two factions, but most of the officers of the military academy are highly educated, and the soldiers are more mixed, from all over the country; The old teaching team is all two Guangzhou soldiers, and there are very few outsiders; Outside of the two factions was Batu's cavalry regiment, and everyone wanted to draw Batu into their ranks, but Batu just didn't want to.

Huang Ke doesn't have any opinions on the two factions, whether the team has a contrast, there is a competition between each other, and at the same time there is a check and balance on power; However, at present, with more than 100,000 personnel and the establishment of four armies, it is inevitable that the organization is a little bloated, and the equipment and other things are a little unable to keep up.

Huang Ke was thinking about how to carry out the next step of troop reorganization in order to give full play to the maximum combat effectiveness.

A few days ago, Soviet advisers returned to China one after another, and before returning to China, Huang Ke presented them with a list of weapons to buy, the most important of which was various types of modern artillery that were enough to equip three regiments.

In addition to artillery, this time Huang Ke not only bought weapons, but also thought about how to develop heavy industry in the southwest region, and only with the support of heavy industry can the theory of frontal assault of the large in-depth and large corps have a basis for realization.

However, Huang Ke's ideas are not yet able to be realized overnight, after all, he is now only a commander of a revolutionary army, not a president who coordinates the overall situation.

The president still has the same plan, the Northern Expedition as soon as possible, and the unification of the whole country as soon as possible; Now that there are 100,000 new troops, the president thinks the Northern Expedition is ready.

As a result, there was a contradiction in strategic differences between the two.

In the afternoon, the presidential palace was very quiet, and on the rattan chair in the backyard, the president walked around wearing a robe from the Jiangnan Silk and Satin Factory; Huang Ke stood beside him, motionless, his thin woolen coat draped over his body and rippled with the breeze.

The president thought for a moment and said, "Xinghua, the land reform has begun now, are there any practical difficulties?" ”

Huang Ke smiled slightly: "It's a bit difficult, but it's all overcome." ”

"Well, there is nothing wrong with equalizing land rights, and it must be done; But what should be done next? Have you ever thought about it? The president's sudden question made Huang Ke stunned, and it seemed that the disputes caused by land reform had reached the president.

Huang Ke pondered for a while: "President, reform has always been bound to arouse opposition from some stakeholders, and I also thought about this issue before carrying out land reform; However, whether or not to reform depends on whether it is conducive to long-term development, so I will not change the basic policy. ”

The president smiled: "Xinghua, your perseverance is good; But you're a soldier, and sometimes too much management can make people gossip. ”

Huang Ke naturally understood what the president meant; During this period of time, many people began to talk about him arbitrarily, some even said that he was a new warlord, and some people slandered Huang Ke because of this.

It's easy to forget credit, especially your opponents; This sentence could not be more appropriate for Huang Ke, since the beginning of the Western Expedition, both within the government and in society, countless people have attacked his behavior, some people openly scolded him in the newspaper for wanting to follow communism, and some people said that he was a warlord...... These words, which are impossible to mix together, are all set on Huang Ke.

Huang Ke didn't care about this, anyway, the military and political power is now in the hands of Lao Tzu, and he said it in a word that the revolution was needed; Everyone also understands that the New Revolutionary Army was created by Huang Ke; Without him, the revolutionary scenario would probably not have reached its present situation.

But since the president has spoken, Huang Ke still has to give a little beating, and it is often taboo to do things, isn't the old saying good, make a fortune in a muffled voice!

The preparation of the Northern Expedition was on the agenda step by step, and the president's physical condition was deteriorating, and he was eager to actively promote the Northern Expedition, and Huang Ke also wanted to promote the Northern Expedition, but the Northern Expedition was a major event for the southern government, and it needed to be discussed and voted on by the Central Executive Committee before it began.

At this time, the Central Executive Committee had no opinion on the Northern Expedition, but there were great differences on the choice of commander-in-chief: some suggested that Huang Ke continue to serve as commander-in-chief, while others suggested that Wang Jingwei should serve as chairman of the Military Committee and lead the Northern Expedition...... There are six or seven candidates at once.

At the discussion meeting of the executive committee members, Liao Zhongkai and other elders supported Huang Ke as always, and he also very much agreed with Huang Ke's land reform, believing that these not only enabled the development of the vast rural areas, but also provided a substantial mass foundation for the revolution, but such a thing of killing two birds with one stone was opposed by many people.

"Isn't the agrarian reform, which forcibly dispersed the land that was originally privately owned and legal, just like the Soviet Union? Then we will simply do gcD, so I don't agree with Huang Ke as the commander of the Northern Expeditionary Army, and I don't even recommend that he continue to hold a position in the army. ”

Sun Ke and Zou Lu of the Central Committee represented a large part of the people's opinion, and the conservative and feudal forces not only opposed Huang Ke as commander of the Northern Expeditionary Army, but even suggested that the land reform should be stopped and Huang Ke should be allowed to leave the New Revolutionary Army.

Mr. Liao shook his head: "The land reform has given us a sufficient mass base, and many of the officers and soldiers of the New Revolutionary Army are peasants who have carried out land reform, and they will fight to protect the fruits of their revolution when they join the army for the Northern Expedition, and this is the necessity of land reform." ”

Wu Chaoshu, who was sitting next to him, could not agree with Mr. Liao's opinion: "If you have to lose another part for the sake of one part of the profit, how can the foundation of the revolution be solid?" ”

"The basis of the revolution is the majority, not the minority; Interest groups will not be strong if they are only in line with the minority. Mr. Liao said a little angrily, and he couldn't help coughing a few times as he spoke.

"Also, I think our government should reform not only the army, but also the finances; A centralized government naturally wants to carry out fiscal unity; Without financial support, whoever is the commander-in-chief of the Northern Expeditionary Army will not be able to. ”

When it comes to the issue of financial unification, it seems to hit the key point in the hearts of some people, and they deliberately divert the topic and say: "Today's discussion is about the selection of the commander of the Northern Expeditionary Army, Mr. Liao, don't take the topic away, let's return to the original topic." ”

After a morning of arguing, the executive meeting of the committee did not argue about anything; For these controversies, Huang Ke felt that it was useless for him to be afraid, the revolutionary party was the later XX party, and the XX party represented the interests of these big bourgeoisie and bureaucratic class, Huang Ke's actions had touched their most fundamental interests, and these people must be eager to eat Huang Ke now.

However, Huang Ke decided to go his own way to the end.

He has a strong force in his hands, and such a strong force can now be united, not only by his personal prestige, but also by a revolutionary spirit.

After the reform of the new army was carried out, every day before the morning exercise, these officers and men had to recite the hatred of "oppression by the three mountains," and before going to bed at night, these officers and men had to recite the "Minutes for the Soldiers" repeatedly.

At the same time, the system of party representation promoted by Soviet instructors was also implemented, but not representatives of a certain party, but ideological representatives. Huang Ke is not very interested in political parties, although the army is now full of members of various political parties, but Huang Ke has never joined the party, and he also stipulates that senior military officers are not allowed to join the party.

His idea was to establish a military unification and multi-party regime in which the military would take turns in power in the future, and if the military personnel were involved, it would not be good, and under Huang Ke's influence, the officers of the military rank under him never joined any party. The political parties on both sides sometimes treat Huang Ke as their own, and sometimes they exclude him; At the same time, he often sent people to persuade and persuade, but Huang Ke was always unmoved.

The matter of the Northern Expedition is the top priority of the southern government, no matter whether the candidate is changed or not, Huang Ke does not dare to slack off in the slightest, he knows that he only has one chance, once the opportunity comes, he will seize it!