Chapter 2: Stormy Weather at Whampoa Section 15: Instruction

  As a deputy officer, it is natural to follow the superior's side, at least not too far away, to ensure that they can be called upon at any time. Zhuang Jihua and Jiang Xiangyun initially thought so too, but Sun Yat-sen only gave each of them a stack of books, including the Declaration of the First National Congress of the Kuomintang, Lectures on the Three Principles of the People, and A History of Imperialism in China. Then he let them read the books and submit their reading notes to him for review every day. The two men understood that Sun Yat-sen was personally instructing them. Jiang Xiangyun felt a bit embarrassed, Zhuang Jihua knew why he was embarrassed, but there was no way to persuade him. He didn't mind at all, as he himself didn't know what he believed in. Every time, he just wrote articles and submitted them, but still unconsciously wrote out some things from his past life.

  For example, on the issue of land rights, he believed that Sun Yat-sen's proposal to verify national land prices was not feasible and proposed adopting a progressive income tax to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor. This is very common for later generations, but it was quite innovative at this time.

  Jiang Xianyun disagreed with this point and the two men began arguing in front of Sun Yat-sen.

  Jiang Xianyun quoted the Communist International's theory on landlords and rich peasants to refute Zhuang Jihua, believing that this was a concession to exploiters and that they should return the wealth they had exploited from laboring people back to the laboring people.

  Zhuang Jihua, on the other hand, believed that exploitation could not be completely eliminated, and that forcibly equalizing wealth was a violent invasion of private property, violating democratic freedom principles. Moreover, most landlords' wealth came from their own hard work and good management, while evil landlords were in the minority.

  Chiang Hsien-yun sarcastically said that being good at business is essentially cleverly taking and plundering, the accumulation of wealth is a process of exploitation, while quoting Marx's description of capital to illustrate that this kind of accumulation is itself a crime.

  Zhuang Jihua agrees with Marx's description of capital, but does not think that exploitation is a crime. He explains that since the birth of commerce, exploitation has objectively existed. The fundamental purpose of capitalists opening factories is to make money; if they didn't want to make money, why would they open factories? Similarly, there are frugal farmers and those who waste food, and when disaster strikes, the latter must borrow, but no one has a responsibility to lend to you, and paying a price is inevitable. Therefore, exploitation is not a crime, but rather an inevitable result of commercial society's development. To thoroughly eliminate exploitation would require thoroughly eliminating commerce, which is impossible.

  Chiang Kai-shek retorted that it was possible to eliminate exploitation, and the Soviet Union had already done so.

  Zhuang Jihua was somewhat embarrassed, he couldn't say that the Soviet Union thoroughly failed in the 1990s. But he still insisted that the Soviet Union didn't succeed either, because commercial exchange still existed in Russia, it's just that its exploitation had not yet been recognized.

  Sun Yat-sen began to listen with great interest to their debate, and finally couldn't help but join in. He agreed with Zhuang Jihua's view that the wealth of most landlords and rich peasants was a problem, but he thought Zhuang Jihua's method was too slow. Moreover, he admired the rapid strengthening of national power in Soviet Russia after the revolution and believed it had reference value for China.

  Zhuang Jihua said that the rapid strengthening of Soviet Russia's national power contains a huge crisis, which is achieved at the expense of sacrificing light industry and agriculture to vigorously develop heavy industry, leading to unbalanced economic development, it is a distorted economy, this distortion will cause the country's economy to collapse when it reaches a certain level.

  This discussion about exploitation triggered by land ended in a draw.

  The two men had the same views on revolutionary strategy, both believing that cooperation between the KMT and CPC was the foundation for achieving revolutionary victory. However, they differed in their views on foreign relations, with the main point of contention being which country was the primary enemy. Jiang Yun thought it was Britain, while Zhuang Jihua unhesitatingly chose Japan.

  Zhuang Jihua believes that Britain's strength has been weakened after the European war and is no longer capable of large-scale intervention in China's internal affairs, but Japan is different. Japan did not suffer any losses in the European war, its national strength did not decline but rose instead, and since the Meiji Restoration, Japan has consistently pursued an expansionist foreign policy, with China being the main direction of its expansion.

  Chiang Xianyun partially agrees with Zhuang Jihua's views on Japan, but he believes that Britain has significant interests in China, especially in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The revolution will first develop in this region, and simply recovering the concessions would make the British jump over the wall. He cites the merchant corps incident as an example of the British government's involvement.

  Zhuang Jihua also agreed that the recovery of the leased territory would be very painful for the British government, but the key was that Britain did not have the strength to send a large number of troops to intervene. At most, they could only dispatch a few warships to demonstrate their presence, and it was absolutely impossible to send in troops.

  The two men argued repeatedly, sometimes in front of Sun Yat-sen and sometimes in their own rooms. Time passed slowly, and Sun Yat-sen no longer urged the various armies to march north in a hurry. He only sent a symbolic telegram with some mild criticism that did not hurt or itch, which led to different understandings among the various armies. However, Sun Yat-sen did not explain himself. Zhu Peide, who had arrived at Shaoguan, came to the headquarters several times to vent his frustrations, but Sun Yat-sen only offered simple comfort. The only ones who understood Sun Yat-sen's intentions were Chiang Kai-shek and Liao Zhongkai. They received a secret order from Sun Yat-sen, instructing them to prepare for armed suppression of the merchant corps.

  That day Sun Yat-sen was reviewing the notes of two people and after discussing a few sentences suddenly asked: "What do you think is the solution to the Chamber of Commerce incident."

  Zhuang Jihua and Jiang Xianyun reacted simultaneously, Sun Zhongshan now needs a reason. In the previous government had reached an agreement with the business group, and now want to solve by force, if there is no good reason, then the government's prestige will inevitably be affected, and fall into a passive position in politics.

  Chiang Kai-shek first said: "The students suggested that the students of Huangpu Military Academy and the workers' and peasants' army gather outside Guangzhou, then launch a petition to the government with the workers and peasants, demanding that the government disarm the merchant corps."

  Zhuang Jihua thought for a moment and said: "Students think that waiting is enough."

  Wait, Sun Zhongshan and Jiang Xianyun were somewhat perplexed. Zhuang Jihua continued to explain: "The merchant team members are all composed of rich family sons, who can still be a little sloppy in peacetime, but it's not feasible on the battlefield, no need to gather many troops. As for... do you know? Rich people have a bad habit, that is, they like to cause trouble. These people are usually arrogant and now that they've suffered such a big loss, they're eager to vent their anger. So we just wait for them to come out and cause trouble, then it's our turn to take action. As for the troops, students suggest not to transfer from Shaoguan, just quietly arm the Huangpu students and the workers' military team, as long as the first battle defeats its command center Xiguan, control Guangzhou city at the fastest speed, and the merchant teams armed outside can be settled by order."

  Sun Yat-sen listened clearly and rebuked angrily: "Are we waiting for them to cause trouble? Are we going to sacrifice how many people when they cause trouble? Aren't these people our revolutionary masses? Shouldn't we let them make sacrifices in vain? What if they don't cause trouble? Do you want to instigate them to cause trouble? The Cultural Revolution, revolution cannot only seek the goal without regard for the means. Such means can only be achieved temporarily. Revolution is a just and glorious undertaking, it cannot be achieved through dark means."

  Zhuang Jihua's face turned red as soon as he heard it, that was exactly what he meant, he thought that now all that was needed was just one reason, so find a reason or create a reason, the old Americans often did this, very easily.

  Sun Yat-sen continued: "The Chamber of Commerce is not a bad organization, and its contribution to the revolution in previous years was not small. I remember all this, but now its leaders are swollen with ambition. Take their purchase of guns, for example. With their existing armed forces, they can fully protect the business community. What do they want to do with so many guns? This cannot but make the government vigilant, and this is also one of the reasons why I made up my mind to solve the Chamber of Commerce."

  Zhuang Jihua's face turned red with shame as he apologized to Sun Zhongshan, "Premier, I was wrong. It was my impatience and shortsightedness that led me astray."

  "There are many people who have such thoughts, but this method is wrong. Tang Taizong Li Shimin once said that I treat people with sincerity, and they will definitely treat me with sincerity. To achieve the goal without choosing a means, this kind of success is more terrible than failure. If we continue like this, the revolution will lose its original position."

  Zhuang Jihua apologized, but he didn't think so in his heart. Politics is dirty, doing politics with integrity... the Premier is too idealistic.

  Jiang Xianyun felt very embarrassed when he saw Zhuang Jihua, and wanted to help him out of the awkward situation, so he asked: "What does the Premier think should be done?"

  Sun Yat-sen said: "The merchant corps has existed since the early years of the Republic, with members all over Guangdong Province and a relatively wide influence. The best solution is political means. If they can be incorporated, it would be the best; if not, letting them maintain their current status temporarily is also acceptable."

  Zhuang Jihua and Jiang Xianyun were shocked by the news, knowing that Sun Yat-sen had retreated from his firm stance of suppressing.

  Sun Yat-sen seemed to know their thoughts and continued: "Are you going to ask if my stance has changed again? No, I have never changed. The Cultural Revolution had a saying that was very correct - the merchant group's combat effectiveness is not strong. If there was no Chen Jiongming, relying solely on the merchant group, whoever it was would be unable to do anything. Our biggest worry is still Chen Jiongming. Without the merchant group, Chen Jiongming could still attack Guangzhou, still blockade the border between Jiangxi and Guangdong, and still buy off the unstable elements within our ranks. Therefore, we cannot go north without resolving the issue of Chen Jiongming."

  Jiang Xianyun still didn't believe it and asked: "But..."

  Sun Yat-sen interrupted him: "But we stayed in Shaoguan, neither advancing nor retreating, right? This is because I want to take another look....."

  Zhuang Jihua and Jiang Xianyun understood what Sun Zhongshan said was to look at the business group.

  After this conversation, both of them felt that Sun Yat-sen's review of their notes became more and more detailed, even some minor views were instructed with a large amount of text.

  However, the development of the situation ultimately disappointed Sun Yat-sen.

  On October 10, the Double Tenth Festival, various circles in Shaoguan held a grand meeting to celebrate National Day. Sun Yat-sen delivered a passionate speech at the meeting, with the central topic naturally being the Northern Expedition.

  In the afternoon, news came that the merchant corps had opened fire on the crowd celebrating Double Tenth Day in Guangzhou, killing over 20 people and injuring over 100. Upon receiving this news, Sun Yat-sen was outraged and immediately threw aside all his illusions about the merchant corps. He cabled Xu Chongzhi, Liao Zhongkai, Wang Jingwei, Chiang Kai-shek, Chen Youren and Tan Pingshan to form a revolutionary committee of six members with full powers, authorizing them to take action in the name of the chairman to quell the merchant corps' rebellion.

  On October 11, he ordered Hu Hanmin to disband and disarm all the Guangzhou merchant corps, and ordered the Shaoguan garrison and a part of the Northern Expeditionary Army to return to Guangzhou to suppress the rebellion. On the same day, he issued the "Pacification of Merchant Corps" order, and Chiang Kai-shek and Liao Zhongkai led the Whampoa Military Academy students, armored car teams, and peasant self-defense forces to quickly occupy Xiguan that night, while Chen Bogu and Chen Gong escaped to Hong Kong. On the 12th, armed merchant corps in various places fled in disarray, and on the 15th, all shops in Guangzhou reopened.

  The news spread and the commander's camp was overjoyed, but the Whampoa students in the guard unit were also worried about the casualties of their fellow Whampoa comrades who were the main force in suppressing the rebellion. Yesterday's news reported that some of the victims of the shooting incident were indeed Whampoa students.

  Zhuang Jihua did not know that due to his intervention, the merchant team rebellion was put down two days in advance. The wind stirred up by the butterfly's wings is gradually strengthening.

  On the 14th, Sun Yat-sen returned to Guangzhou and never mentioned the Northern Expedition again. The Whampoa student guard corps followed him back and soon received orders to return to school.

  On the 17th, Sun Yat-sen convened a meeting with Hu Hanmin, Liao Zhongkai, Wang Jingwei and Mikhail Borodin to discuss the Eastern Expedition against Chen Jiongming.

  However, soon came the news that Wu Peifu was defeated, and the situation in China changed suddenly.

  On October 22, Feng Yuxiang led his troops back to Beijing from the front line, imprisoned President Cao Kun, forced the Beijing government to issue a ceasefire order, and announced the removal of Wu Peifu's position. Later, in Tianjin Yangcun, he defeated the Zhili Army commanded by Wu Peifu, which led to the collapse of the main force of the Zhili Army at Shanhai Pass. Wu Peifu fled south in a hurry from Tanggu on a warship.

  Wu Peifu of the Northern faction was busy escaping, Zhang Zuolin was busy deploying his troops to the Pingjin front line, Feng Yuxiang was busy contacting various parties to prepare for threats from the Fengtian clique, while Duan Qirui was busy dreaming of making a comeback.

  However, in the south of China, an army that had never existed before was slowly taking shape. Two years later, this army would unleash a storm and sweep across half of China.