Chapter 55: Bai Chongxi's Worries (Part 2)

  The last time Chiang Kai-shek stepped down, it was because he and Li Zongren, the leader of the Guangxi clique, had made contact with various parties and borrowed Wang Jingwei's political prestige and his position within the party to bring about Chiang Kai-shek's reluctant retirement. A good situation in which Wang Jingwei would be in charge of politics and Li Zongren would be in charge of the military was almost within reach. However, such a situation lasted only for several months before it collapsed under Chiang Kai-shek's series of dazzling political maneuvers. Their allies defected one after another to support Chiang Kai-shek. Wang Jingwei, seeing that the situation was not good, immediately retreated and went to France to recuperate from his illness. This time, he saw through their weaknesses even more clearly, and it seemed that this time he would take action against the Guangxi clique.

  It was they who forced Chiang Kai-shek to lose his highest power for a time. Thinking that Chiang Kai-shek would never let them go, he felt some resentment towards his superior. In June 1926, Chiang Kai-shek went to Wuhan to invite Li Zongren to go to Beijing together to pay respects to the late Premier's coffin. Li Zongren hosted a banquet for Chiang Kai-shek that evening. At that time, the Guangxi warlords in Wuhan, such as Hu Zongnan, Tao Yuen, and Xia Wei, all refused to attend, leaving only Li Zongren alone to accompany him, making the atmosphere very cold. His superior was good everywhere, but just too lenient towards his subordinates. If he had been in Wuhan at that time, these people would not have dared to behave like this. They were so slow to respond to Chiang Kai-shek's invitation, and this account would definitely be recorded on Li Zongren's head, and even Chiang Kai-shek might think it was Li Zongren who instructed them.

  Chiang Kai-shek was very clear about his and Li Zongren, Feng Yuxiang, Yan Xishan's mentality and character, this vision is quite terrifying. He and Li Zongren were far apart. If Old Chiang had attacked the Northwest Army first, the Guangxi clique would not have sat idly by. They understood the principle of "when the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold". With the support of more than 7 million troops from the Guangxi and Northwest Armies, as well as the financial resources of the two provinces, they had a great chance of winning against Chiang's Central Army and some small fry attached to him. However, if he had attacked the Guangxi clique first, Feng Huanzhang and Yan Baichuan might not have sent troops, now it seems almost impossible.

  Li Zongren in Shanghai has already wired him to report on the liaison with Feng Huanzhang and Yan Baichuan. Yan Baichuan, although he promised to help the Guangxi clique overthrow Chiang Kai-shek, did not take any action, which made a deep impression on him in Beiping. Shang Zhen, Zhang Yinwu, Fu Zuoyi and others absolutely refused to participate in the affairs of the Guangxi clique. If they had supported him, he would have arrested Li Pinxian, who was stirring up Hunanese officers and soldiers to overthrow the Guangxi clique and welcome Tang. Feng Huanzhang was a bit better, promising that two weeks after the war with old Chiang began, he would take action, citing the need for troop movements to take time. What a joke! Two weeks after the war began, the situation may have already become clear, and it is certain that Feng Huanzhang will participate in the war at that time, but it is hard to say who he will support by then. Fang Zhenwu's words just now also proved his speculation to some extent.

  Bai Chongxi brutally extinguished the remaining half of his cigarette in the ashtray. He recalled the telegram sent by Hu Zongnan, Tao Jun and others from Wuhan half a month ago, informing him that Chiang Kai-shek wanted to cancel the military division meetings in various places. After Li Zongren in Nanjing learned about it, he immediately wired Bai and the Wuhan side. However, those idiots mixed with scoundrels took advantage of the dissolution of the military and political division meeting to remove Lu Diping as the chairman of Hunan Province under the name of the Wuhan Military and Political Division Meeting. In his troops, there had been rumors circulating half a year ago that Chiang Kai-shek supported Tang Shengzhi's return to command his old unit. He knew that this matter must have been backed by Chiang Kai-shek in Nanjing. However, as long as Chiang Kai-shek did not publicly express his stance, Tang Shengzhi dared not return. He was afraid that once he returned, he would be dealt with by Chiang Kai-shek. In this way, Li Pingshan and others also dared not to make trouble. And Chiang Kai-shek had no suitable reason to suddenly allow Tang Shengzhi to return. But now there is, the "Xiang Case" provides a perfect excuse for Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang Kai-shek's telegram stated: "'The Xiang Case' is a local militarist who disrespects the central government and has become arrogant and reckless, accumulating into this major illegal act."

  To calm down the Xiang case, he and Li Zongren both sent resignation telegrams, but Chiang Kai-shek did not approve. In order to make good war preparations and also test Chiang's bottom line on the Guangxi clique, he sent a telegram to Chiang, citing "the suffering of his troops in North China" as the reason, requesting to withdraw his troops back to Wuhan. However, Chiang Kai-shek did not approve this either, indicating that he would never give up easily. The reason why he had not taken action yet was that he was not fully prepared. He originally wanted to lead the 12th, 53rd and 54th divisions to force their way back to Wuhan, but now the Tianjin-Pukou Railway was impassable, leaving only the Longhai Railway as a last resort. However, the 54th division opposed him, and the 12th division would also be shaken, leaving only the 53rd division willing to follow him. The security forces in Handan were not something he could easily deal with. His telegram requesting military rations was actually a test of the attitude of the security forces. He was still waiting for news that would allow him to make his move, but Fang Zhenwu's arrival disrupted his plans. Now that the situation in Hebei was extremely critical, he had to lead Liao Chen's 53rd division back to Wuhan as soon as possible. Therefore, after Fang Zhenwu left, he immediately sent someone to find Liao Chen and Wang Zemin, who were the only two high-ranking generals he could trust.

  His guard captain, also his cousin Bai Chongguang, came in and interrupted his thoughts. "Big brother, the commander of the Hebei Security Guard Brigade, Ye Changgui, requests to see you." When they were alone, they always addressed each other as brothers.

  Ye Changgui's arrival made Bai Chongxi stunned. Now, not to mention the mid-to-high-level generals in Hebei like Shang Zhen, Zhang Yungu and Fu Zuoyi, even the general mid-to-low-level generals tried to stay away from him. What is the brigade commander of the Security Guard Army doing here? Would Song Zhiwu let him go? Bai Chongxi was surprised at this result, although it was what he had hoped for. Bai Chongguang saw him stunned and explained: "This Ye Changgui is my junior fellow apprentice whom I mentioned to my elder brother. This time he came in plain clothes secretly."

  "Come quickly!" Bai Chongxi said as he walked a few steps to the door, then stopped and hesitated for a moment before returning to sit behind his desk. He pulled open the drawer, loaded a bullet into the chamber of a Browning pistol inside, and then pushed the drawer back in, but not all the way, keeping it at a position where he could easily reach the gun.

  Ye Changgui wore a long blue robe, dressed like a young merchant, and followed Bai Chongguang to the study of Bai Chongxi. Bai Chongxi did not stand up, only saying "Please sit down". A guard brought tea, during which time Bai Chongxi just quietly looked at Ye Changgui. If he were not Bai Chongguang's junior fellow apprentice, Bai Chongxi would absolutely not believe that this young man was a brigade commander. At that time, most brigade commanders were major generals, and only a few were colonels.

  Ye Changgui also quietly looked at Bai Chongxi, without a hint of panic. It was still Bai Chongxi who broke the silence first: "Mr. Ye, how old are you this year? Are all your security officers very young?" Ye Changgui bowed slightly and replied: "I'm 26 this year, our security officers are all very young, Commander Song is only two years older than me, and the other regimental commanders are about the same age as us." Bai Chongxi nodded and asked again: "Mr. Ye, you're not in Laiyuan, what brings you here?" Although Bai Chongxi clearly knew it was related to food supplies

  Ye Changgui slowly said: "I came here to inform General Bai on the orders of Commander-in-Chief Song that you need to provide food supplies. Commander-in-Chief Song has already transported them to Handan on the orders of Chairman Chiang in Nanjing, and they should have arrived by now. However, there are more than enough, which is a month's worth of food for 100,000 people."

  Bai Chongxi's expression changed slightly when he heard that it was under Chiang Kai-shek's orders. His hand had already grasped the gun handle in the drawer. Bai Chongxi's face quickly returned to normal, and he said calmly: "If that's all, go back and tell your Commander Song that I, Bai Chongxi, will surely thank him properly in the future!" Although Bai Chongxi had expected that Song Zhiwu might have already defected to Chiang Kai-shek, he was still very surprised when it was confirmed. He also felt helpless. It seemed that without a bloody battle, he and the 53rd Division would not be able to return to Wuhan.

  Ye Changgui discovered that Bai Chongxi's movements were so brief, even his slight arm movements could be seen clearly by him. He could even feel what was in Bai Chongxi's hand under the table.

  "General Bai, Commander Song likes one of Tao Yuanming's poems very much. He also admires the general's character and wants to ask him to leave his calligraphy as a treasure to appreciate often. As for the reward, Commander Song says he will double it when they meet again."

  "Ah!" Bai Chongxi was somewhat puzzled. He and Song Zheyu had never met before, and the words of admiration were just a courtesy. But he immediately turned to Nanjing's old Jiang, as if it was no longer necessary to be courteous to him. As for his handwriting, although it was still good, it was not outstanding. What did he mean by asking him for it? Bai Chongxi suppressed his urge to drive the guest away and asked coldly: "What about that poem? But I'm a military man, unlike Commander Song who likes to indulge in romanticism, I'm afraid I'll disappoint him."

  Ye Changgui smiled faintly and said: "This poem is in my bosom, please ask Master Brother to come and take it" This tells Bai Chongxi that I don't want to cause misunderstandings.

  Bai Chongxi stopped Bai Chongguang from going forward and said faintly, "I, Bai Chongxi, also came out of the mountain of corpses and sea of blood. Take it out." Ye Changgui slowly reached into his bosom and pulled out a roll of rice paper, handing it to Bai Chongguang, who then handed it to Bai Chongxi.

  Bai Chongxi gently opened it and spread it on the table, with the vigorous and powerful steel pen characters filling his eyes. Bai Chongxi had never seen anyone write such good steel pen characters before. In this era, there was no such thing as hard pen calligraphy, but Song Zhe Wu's previous life had won awards for it.

  I'm returning home, ah! My fields and gardens will soon be overgrown; why not return? Since I've used my heart to serve my body, what's the point of being melancholy and grieving alone? I realize that past mistakes cannot be changed, but future ones can still be pursued. The path I strayed from is not far away; I'm aware that today is right and yesterday was wrong. My boat drifts lightly with the current, the wind blows gently on my clothes. I ask the traveler who's been to the place before: what's the road ahead like? Alas, the morning light is already so faint!

  The meaning of this poem is clear to Bai Chongxi. This Song Zhiwu, whom he had never met, was hinting that he should return to Guangxi as soon as possible. He must have received some unfavorable news about himself, which is why he took the risk of offending Jiang in Nanjing by sending someone to hint at him. But why did he do this? Is it because Song Zhiwu saw that once the Gui system fell, no one would be able to rival Jiang's power, and the old general would emerge victorious, picking off his opponents one by one, including even himself, Song Zhiwu? If so, then Song Zhiwu is indeed a remarkable person. With this kind of insight, he is far superior to Feng Huanzhang and Yan Baichuan, who are still thinking about gaining power by taking advantage of the Gui system. This Song Zhiwu, who is not yet 30 years old, has such extraordinary vision - it's truly impressive! Bai Chongxi acknowledges that at his age, he did not have this kind of insight. He must make an effort to get to know this young man in the future.

  Bai Chongxi smiled slightly and said, "You go back and tell Commander Song that I also like this poem very much. Although my calligraphy is not exceptional, I will write it with care. Let Commander Song prepare the ink, and I will bring tens of thousands of soldiers to Handan to take it." Bai Chongxi still had some reservations and wanted to test him again.

  "General Bai, our commander said: 'If the general must go, he will lead tens of thousands of security troops to welcome General Bai, and it is possible that people from Henan will also come to welcome the general. Our commander also said that Chinese characters are very interesting, for example, the two characters "舍得" (to give up) have opposite meanings, but can be combined together. Our commander thinks that this means, only by giving up can one gain; if one does not want to give up, then there is no gain. These two characters complement each other."

  Bai Chongxi slowly stood up and walked to the window. He now thoroughly understood Song Zhiwu's hint. What was it that he, Bai Chongxi, couldn't bear to part with in Hebei? It was this army of over a hundred thousand men. The military was currently unstable, Li Pinxian could no longer command, the 54th Division had problems, and most of the 12th Division were former soldiers of Tang Shengzhi's old unit. Only Liao Xun's 53rd Division had two regiments of veteran soldiers from Guangxi, which he could still control. These Hunan soldiers weren't going to return home? Bai Chongxi believed that as long as he led them back to the two Hu provinces, military morale would immediately stabilize and continue to deteriorate. He wasn't afraid; there were their main forces in Guilin, and they wouldn't dare cause trouble. But Song Zhiwu was telling him to abandon his troops and return alone. After careful consideration, it seemed that now, only he himself returning was the most practical solution.

  Ye Changgui saw that Bai Chongxi was silent for a long time, and then said: "General Bai, Commander Song also said that he likes the sentence in the poem 'The boat is light and airy, the wind blows gently on my clothes'. He said General Bai is a carefree person, you must like this weather too. From here to Shanghai, the sea is rough and there are many risks. The route from Japan to Vietnam has calm waters and is suitable for long voyages." After finishing speaking, Ye Changgui stood up, slightly bowed towards Bai Chongxi's back, and said: "If General Bai has no other orders, I will take my leave. Please take care of yourself!"

  Bai Chongxi turned around, calmly nodded: "Please tell Commander Song that I will never forget today's events!" After finishing speaking, he waved his hand, indicating for Bai Chongguang to send Ye Changgui out.