Section Five Exploration

  "Commissioner Gan, what tricks can I play? I just want to earn some manuscript fees to spend. You introduce me."

  "Minguo Daily" is a newspaper, the organ of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee. Don't come here to earn manuscript fees. Guohua Daily, Yuehua Daily, 72 rows, isn't it?

  "Those are all small newspapers, the first major newspaper in Guangdong is who, 'Minguo Daily' should be the first, if our Huangpu people don't get on it, wouldn't that be losing face for us?"

  "You're so sure your article will be published." Gan Nai Guang asked with a smile.

  "Uh-huh, of course! My writing skills are even admired by Wu Shan. Don't believe me? Ask him."

  "Is...that so? How come I didn't know you'd written anything?" That one dragged on for ages.

  "It's...not my fault, blame Wu Shan and Jun Shan, they always take it away from me after I write something good, then..." with a deeply wronged expression.

  "What's next?"

  "Then... I was suppressed under two great mountains, and I have grievances that cannot be spoken."

  Haha, Jiang Xianyun burst out laughing first, and Gan Naiguang also burst into loud laughter afterwards.

  Director Zhou couldn't help but smile wryly, this Zhuang Wenge is quite interesting.

  "Then you can rise up in revolution and overthrow the two big mountains!" Director Zhou said with a smile as he walked in.

  As he entered, Zhuang Jihua and Jiang Xianyun immediately stood up to salute him, saying in unison: "Reporting for duty, trainee Zhuang Jihua (Jiang Xianyun), here to report as ordered."

  "Sit down, sit down, what are you talking about, so lively." Director Zhou asked with a smile.

  "Haha, nothing, just joking. Director Zhou, you're new here and don't know yet, as long as Zhuang Wen'ge is around, it's not lively enough. Gannai Guang smiled and explained: "I wasn't an editor at the 'Minguo Daily' before? This kid has been pestering me to introduce him to the editors of the 'Minguo Daily', wanting to write articles for payment."

  "Oh, okay then, just introduce him, but what about the manuscript fee? Of course, it's a must."

  "That's all right, Wen Ge, you said so." Gan Nai Guang joked.

  "Director Zhou, you're even more ruthless than a landlord, controlling everything we eat and drink. Can't I surrender now?" Zhuang Jihua begged with clasped fists.

  "Haha" The crowd burst into another fit of laughter.

  "Go to my office, we won't disturb Officer Gan's preparation." Director Zhou glanced at the books open on Gan Nai Guang's desk and knew he was preparing lessons.

  At the same time, in the principal's office, Chiang Kai-shek was holding a document discussing the teaching group with He Yingqin.

  "With respect, I have reviewed your training plan and officer configuration. This needs some adjustments." He looked at He Yingqin, who sat there honestly, without any expression.

  "The second battalion commander remains unchanged, still Chen Jicheng. The third battalion commander I see is taken by Liu Zhen."

  "As for the party representatives, the second battalion was Mao Renjun and the third battalion was Cai Guangjie." The appointment of party representatives was not within Chiang Kai-shek's power, but he did not intend to follow it anyway.

  "Cai Guangju?" He Yingqin was somewhat surprised, he of course knew this person, this was his Guizhou fellow countryman. Because of this relationship, they were relatively close in daily life, and this time in the distribution, he also had the intention to transfer this fellow countryman under his command, to cultivate him well, and in the future, he would be one of his arms. But he did not expect that Chiang Kai-shek would actually let him take on the role of regimental party representative. To know that currently there are only three regiments, and all the regiment commanders were instructors at Huangpu, Cai Guangju taking on the role of regimental party representative, so he was the first person among the Huangpu students to hold a regiment-level position. If it were Zhuang Jihua or Jiang Xianyun, He Yingqin would not be surprised at all.

  Seeing He Yingqin's surprised expression, Chiang Kai-shek felt a bit complacent and said: "I understand Cai Guangjie, although not as good as Zhuang Wen'ge and Jiang Wushan, he is also one of the best in Huangpu's first class, and also one of the few talents in our Nationalist Party who excels at propaganda. Hmph." Chiang Kai-shek snorted: "I think it's not just the Communist Party that knows how to do propaganda."

  He Yingqin finally somewhat understood why Chiang Kai-shek exceptionally used Cai Guangjie, but he still had a doubt.

  "Why not use Zhuang Wen Ge? Is the principal worried that he is a CP?"

  "No, Wen Ge will not participate in the CP. I think Wen Ge should lead troops, he has the potential to be a commander, just look at his training methods. Also, separate Zhuang Wen Ge and Jiang Xianyun for use, let Zhuang Wen Ge be the company commander first, Jiang Xianyun's propaganda and mobilization abilities are strong, letting him be the party representative is using people according to their talents."

  "I understand, Principal." He Yingqin now understood Chiang Kai-shek's intention. Communist Party members could not serve as military commanders, but only as party representatives. This way, it would prevent the Communist Party from taking control of the military and also give an explanation to all parties, leaving the Communist Party with nothing to say.

  "I see you've got it wrong," Chiang Kai-shek glanced at him and said calmly, "The Communists are good at propaganda and agitation. Our KMT members just can't compare with them in this regard. The party representatives are playing to their strengths."

  He Yingqin saw Chiang Kai-shek make a false move and then withdraw, knowing that this was Chiang's reluctance to lose face, his true intention was still not to let the Communist Party lead the army. However, He Yingqin still underestimated one of Chiang's intentions, which was that Cai Guangjie's appointment also had another purpose, that is, to warn He Yingqin.

  He Yingqin's private moves to win over students, Chiang Kai-shek saw through them but didn't want to stop him. Today he wanted to tell He Yingqin that he knew all about his little tricks and wasn't he trying to win over Cai Guangjie? Fine, I'll promote him then. The price has been set, now it's up to you to deliver the goods. Naturally, the return is loyalty, so both you and the people you've won over can be used freely by me.

  He Yingqin understood the first half of Chiang Kai-shek's meaning but did not understand the second half.

  Chiang Kai-shek looked at him and then said: "The training of the instructional team must be grasped tightly, and another batch of new soldiers is about to arrive. My intention is to compile another regiment, with Wang Boling as the regimental commander. Your regiment's training has another task, which is to summarize experience for the new regiment. You should train while summarizing."

  When Chiang Kai-shek said that Wang Boling would take over as the commander of the Second Regiment, He Yingqin slightly curled up the corner of his mouth in disdain. An empty theorist, he had long known the nickname given to Wang Boling by the students, but he also understood Chiang Kai-shek's intentions. Wang Boling might be nothing, but he was loyal to Chiang Kai-shek, so Chiang must use him.

  Chiang Kai-shek handed the document in his hand to He Yingqin: "You take it back and revise it."

  "Yes, Principal."

  "I invited you both here today because I have a few ideas about the Youth Military Representative Conference, and I'd like to discuss them with you two to see if they're feasible." Director Zhou said while pouring water for the two of them.

  Indeed, as the legend goes, he is easy-going and down-to-earth. Zong Jihua thought of some legends about Director Zhou from his previous life and hurriedly said: "I'm also doing this kind of group for the first time, I don't have any experience, actually Wu Shan is stronger than me." After finishing, he looked at Jiang Xianyun and said with some apology: "At that time, I told the principal, I'll run errands for Wu Shan, but the principal..."

  Actually, Zhuang Jihua really didn't want to get involved with this organization. In this regard, he inherited the habits of his past life - not liking politics. Usually in school, whenever there were political topics, he would avoid them if possible, and only speak up when he couldn't avoid it. As for those celebrity lectures, if he could skip them, he definitely wouldn't go, but he didn't manage to dodge a few times. Either Jiang Xianyun or He Zonghan would drag him along, and in those passionate gatherings, he just couldn't get excited. What annoyed him the most was that after the event, people would keep discussing it for days. Sometimes he would maliciously think, "Shouldn't they open a disco in Huangpu to let these energetic students burn off some energy?" So he was more than happy to hand over this Youth Military Representative Conference to Jiang Xianyun to handle, anyway she liked it.

  "Cultural Revolution, you're back again. At first, the Guangdong Military Academy's Zhang Limin and Wang Qisheng were so full of energy, if it wasn't for your eloquence in debates, they wouldn't have joined so quickly. If you say that again, it won't be interesting," said Jiang Xianyun.

  "Let's not talk about the past, I want to hear what difficulties you're facing now." Director Zhou pulled over a chair and sat down across from them.

  "I feel that the development of members has slowed down," said Jiang Xianyun.

  "Nothing works out no matter what you do." said Zhuang Jihua.

  "Yes, the problem has been found, so what do you think is the cause? How can it be changed?"

  "The rotating system." Zhuang Jihua said: "At present, we adopt a system where each school takes turns hosting. Because the schools do not get along with each other, the unfinished work of the previous term is not continued in the next term, but instead, they would rather start something new. As a result, everything is started, but nothing is accomplished."

  Zhuang Jihua has analyzed the reasons for the current situation, and similar problems have also occurred in his previous company, but they could be solved by material means. Now, he is at a loss as to what to do.

  But Director Zhou said this, which made him think a little. There is Jiang Xianyun in the Qing Dynasty, and Director Zhou must be aware of the situation. Last night, Jiang Xianyun came back very late, although Huangpu Military Academy is not as strict as the previous life's military academy, students are still not allowed to leave school at night, and Yang Qigang has been in the dormitory all along. In between, Li Zhilong and Chen Gong also came to visit once. So what did Jiang Xianyun go for? It can only be that he came to find Director Zhou. Thinking of this, he felt a little uncomfortable in his heart.

  "We haven't publicized it enough, we need to strengthen our publicity and persuasion work. Now there's no time, maybe after graduation we'll have more time."

  "It seems that you all understand the problem, worthy of being the twin heroes of Huangpu. After you left last night, I thought about it repeatedly for a long time and came up with these two points." Director Zhou said.

  Zhuang Jihua thought to himself that the name was not in vain, and just as he had some discomfort here, Director Zhou saw it. In fact, he thought wrongly again, Director Zhou didn't plan to hide it at all, because he thought that with Zhuang Jihua's ability, it would be impossible for him not to guess that Jiang Xianyun came to find him last night. His purpose today was to meet Zhuang Jihua in person.

  "Now that we have reached a consensus, I'd like to make two suggestions for your consideration." Director Zhou spoke in a very polite tone. The Qingdai Association is a student organization and currently does not fall under the jurisdiction of the political department, with its expenses specially allocated from the president's office funds.

  "Please instruct us, Director Zhou," said Zhuang Jihua and Jiang Xianyun in unison.

  "It's not about giving instructions, my idea is that since some people are willing to join and others aren't, we can first absorb those who are willing, and those who aren't can change their attitude later; so we can change the current form of overall joining to individual joining."

  "Secondly, since the rotating presidency is not suitable, can it be changed to a permanent one, for example by establishing a permanent body with members elected by the member states?"

  A genius is a genius, and he found a solution overnight. Zhuang Jihua was deeply impressed by this compromise, which was very clever. The original Qing Dynasty temple only made minor changes, but the road suddenly became passable. In the words of the previous life, it's called changing one's mindset. In fact, many things can be solved simply by changing one's way of thinking or looking at problems from a different angle. However, many people prefer to stick to one way of doing things until they reach a dead end.

  Jiang Xianyun also immediately recognized the advantages of the new approach, and was very excited, as if seeing the birth of a new world.

  "In the end, I think it's best for the Youth League to have a propaganda mouthpiece. Comrade Yun said we should publish a newspaper for Chinese soldiers, which I think is great."

  "This is my suggestion, see if it can work."

  "I'll go along with that." Zhuang Jihua didn't hesitate for a moment. How could the future premier's instructions be wrong?

  Chiang Hsien-yun said: "I suggest that the Youth Military Representative Conference be renamed as the Youth Military United Association, with representatives indicating overall participation and union indicating voluntary participation."

  Zhuang Jihua thought that it was not bad, representing naturally means to represent a certain organization or group, changing to individual joining, then the representative will obviously not be suitable for the new development way.

  I agree.

  Director Zhou smiled with satisfaction, and Zhuang Jihua made a good impression on him today.

  "Now that we've finished our business, let's talk about something else. The Cultural Revolution... I once heard Comrade Wushan mention the story of the shop owner and his apprentices, and I'm a bit curious to discuss it with you."

  Today, Zhuang Jihua didn't say much and was very cooperative, but Director Zhou was not satisfied. He wanted to further understand Zhuang Jihua. Strictly speaking, this was his first time meeting Zhuang Jihua, but he believed that Jiang Xiyun had some influence over Zhuang Jihua, so he decided to continue the conversation.

  "Oh," Zhuang Jihua was somewhat surprised, Jiang Xianyun reported to Director Zhou that this was within his expectations and also what he had hoped for, but Director Zhou was now discussing it with him, which was unexpected. He thought that given Director Zhou's cautious nature, he should still observe himself for a while.

  "So I don't know how Director Zhou views this issue." Zhuang Jihua decided to observe first and then act, he also wanted to know the current attitude of Director Zhou, and thus infer the attitude of their higher-ups.