Section 1: Terminal Equipment (1) (Amendment)

  (Thus this book enters mild historical fantasy)

  November 24th, Guangzhou Wharf. The dockworkers rang the boarding bell beside the Koheiji Maru cruise ship. The crowd waiting at the wharf began to board the ship one after another. Deng Yanda carried his suitcase and slowly moved forward with the flow of people. The crew member mechanically checked the tickets handed over by the boarding passengers, while the steward occasionally helped white people carry their luggage and lead the way. Looking at the humble smile of the steward, Deng Yanda only sighed slightly in his heart. No one came to greet him; he was just a fourth-class passenger, and these stewards were serving first- and second-class passengers. When Deng Yanda found his cabin, two people were already arranging their berths inside. After putting away his luggage, Deng Yanda returned to the deck. He stood upright without leaning against the ship's railing, although he had left the military school, the years of maintaining a soldier's demeanor had left a deep impression on him.

  After leaving the dock, the Coe's Knight sailed along the channel outside the Changzhou Battery, and Deng Yanda looked out at the small island, now it should be time for early lessons, he thought, and the small island gradually became farther and farther away, the river surface wider and wider, the speed of the boat gradually increased, and the small island in the field of vision gradually blurred.

  When Song Xilian came to tell him the news of Deng Yanda's resignation, Zhuang Jihua was reading in the classroom. He didn't go out with He Zonghan and others, actually because he was very confused in his heart, and there was a sudden loss of direction. Sun Zhongshan couldn't come back, hadn't thought of this, and a kind of inexplicable sadness surged up in his heart, making him unable to concentrate.

  "Director Deng resigned? Nonsense! Stop spreading rumors, why learn from Bao Dingtian?" Zhuang Jihua said impatiently to Song Xilian.

  "It's not a rumor, it's already been announced on the bulletin board, don't believe me go take a look."

  Zhuang Jihua immediately got up and quickly walked out of the classroom.

  As soon as he walked out of the room, he saw a crowd of people gathered in front of the bulletin board. Zhuang Jihua's heart sank and his feet quickened.

  "Order"

  To strengthen the military education of our party, Deng Yanda, the acting head of the Training Department and the commander of the Student Corps, was ordered by Hu Hanmin, the acting Grand Marshal of the Generalissimo's Headquarters, to inspect the military education in Germany and France. To avoid delaying the teaching at the military school, Comrade Deng submitted his resignation to the political commissar of the Whampoa Military Academy, Liao Zhongkai, and the principal, Chiang Kai-shek, on November 18, 1924. After discussion by the party department, it was agreed that Comrade Deng would resign as acting head of the Training Department and commander of the Student Corps. The acting head of the Training Department would be temporarily taken over by Wang Boling, and Yan Zhong would be appointed as the commander of the Student Corps. This order is hereby issued.

  November 23, 1924, Huangpu Military Academy Political Committee Member Liao Zhongkai, Principal Chiang Kai-shek

  Zhuang Jihua listened while looking at the discussions of his classmates around him.

  "Why didn't Vice Director Deng go to Russia?"

  "What's the point of going to Russia when there are Russian advisors here?"

  "Germany is a defeated country, what's good about examining its military, it's not as good as going to Japan."

  "It's all over now, those little brats who are in charge of the second phase of the coaching department will be in trouble."

  "Who knows what kind of joke will be made at that time."

  "Cultural Revolution, what's your take on why the principal appointed Wang Boling to be in charge of the coaching department?"

  "I don't know, the principal has his own considerations, we can't control this matter." Zhuang Jihua said and walked away after dispersing the crowd.

  He Zonghan quickly caught up from behind, saw Zhuang Jihua's somewhat dispirited appearance, and asked in surprise: "Wenge, what's wrong with you? Are you sick?"

  Zhuang Jihua shook his head and still didn't say anything, but slowed down his pace. Jiang Xianyun, Li Zhilong, and Song Xili also caught up with him. Seeing his appearance, they were all surprised and asked what was wrong. Zhuang Jihua shook his head in distress and said: "Nothing, just a bit tired, I want to go back and rest for a while."

  Then everyone accompanied him back to the dormitory, Li Zhilong advised him to lie down for a while, Zhuang Jihua shook his head, sat in a chair, with his back to everyone, and slowly said: "You all go busy with your own things, I want to be quiet for a while."

  Jiang Xianyun saw his appearance and didn't say anything else. He called everyone out and let Zhuang Jihua stay in the dormitory alone.

  After the crowd left, Zhuang Jihua loosened his tie and buried his head in his arms. "Deng Yanda has also left, what should I do next?" He muttered softly, like a wounded wolf quietly licking its own wounds.

  Others didn't know, but he knew history. He simply didn't believe the nonsense on the bulletin, Deng Yanda's resignation was definitely due to Chiang Kai-shek's exclusion.

  Deng Yanda was deeply trusted by Sun Yat-sen and Liao Zhongkai, so Chiang Kai-shek did not dare to openly lay hands on him. Among the military school instructors, Wang Boling was closest to Chiang Kai-shek, followed by Gu Zhutong, while Deng Yanda was one of the few who could confront Chiang Kai-shek. However, Wang Boling often interfered with the work of the Training Department as the head of the Teaching Department, and in his disputes with Deng Yanda, Chiang Kai-shek would often unintentionally favor Wang Boling.

  Now that Chiang Kai-shek has succeeded, what makes Zhuang Jihua even more disheartened is the discussion of those classmates just now. Zhuang Jihua feels a sense of powerlessness. They almost completely failed to see that Deng Yanda's departure was a major loss for the forces constraining Chiang Kai-shek within the military academy.

  Zhuang Jihua began to doubt whether his decision to join Huangpu was correct. He didn't know what would happen next, and if he continued to follow Chiang Kai-shek, his hands would inevitably be stained with the blood of communists during the 4.12 incident, which was something he couldn't do. If he followed the Communist Party, could he avoid being caught in the repeated purges? Now he felt that joining Huangpu might have been a mistake, an impulsive decision, but what to do now?

  What to do? What to do in the future. Zhuang Jihua couldn't think of a solution, his mind was all muddled, so he habitually took down his gun from the gun rack, disassembled it piece by piece, and then wiped each part with a cleaning cloth one by one. This was a habit he had developed since owning a gun - whenever he encountered a difficult problem, he would take out his gun to "dissect" it, in order to cover up his own anxiety.

  Slowly and mechanically wiping. In his mind, one moment was chaotic, sometimes he was shooting at the procession crowd, and sometimes he was being tied up with five flowers and taken to the execution ground.

  The door of the dormitory was pushed open, and a group of people walked in, still arguing as they went. Zhuang Jihua remained focused on playing "dissection", without even turning around.

  "Is the Cultural Revolution over yet?"

  "Uh-huh, much better." Zhuang Jihua replied absent-mindedly.

  "What's wrong? If you're not feeling well, take a rest. Why bother with this." A gentle pat on the shoulder.

  Zhuang Jihua turned around and saw it was Song Xilian, who was looking at him with a puzzled expression.

  Zhuang Jihua saw the look of concern on his face and felt a little moved, so he said: "Don't worry about me, I'm much better now."

  He saw him looking at the parts on his desk and explained: "I'm just idle, practicing disassembly and assembly."

  "Go, go, someone who can get first place with their eyes closed is still practicing this stuff. What do you think of that article?" Song Xiliang asked, feeling relieved.

  "What's with that article?" Zhuang Jihua asked in confusion.

  Song Xilian then remembered that Zhuang Jihua hadn't read the article yet, so he snatched a newspaper from Deng Wenyi's hand and handed it to him: "It's this one."

  Zhuang Jihua took a look and it was the "Minguo Daily", on the front page, with the title: "The Party Nature of Cross-Party Members". The author was unmistakably Xie Chi.

  Xie Chi questions the purpose of Communist Party members joining the Nationalist Party in this article, believing that Communist Party members take advantage of joining the Nationalist Party to develop vigorously, and the Nationalist Party has the danger of being subverted by the Communist Party from within. He suggests that Communist Party members should withdraw from the Nationalist Party or abandon their communist beliefs.

  "Full of nonsense, who cares what he's doing." Zhuang Jihua said with a quick scan of the newspaper, then tossed it over his shoulder and continued to wipe down his gun. He was already somewhat pessimistic about the future, and this article had undoubtedly added to his annoyance.

  "Haha, spouting nonsense, that's so right!" Several people burst into loud laughter. It wasn't until then that Zhuang Jihua felt something was off, and turning his head back to look, he knew things were bad.

  Jiang Xianyun and Yang Qigang burst out laughing, while He Zhancheng, Deng Wenyi, and Zeng Kuoxing's faces turned iron-gray.

  "Xie Chi is a veteran of our party and also a member of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. During the Cultural Revolution, I disagree with you insulting him like this." Deng Wenyi said solemnly.

  Seeing Deng Wenyi's reaction, Zhuang Jihua knew that his unintentional words were a bit hurtful. In fact, in the past life, such language was not considered anything, but in this era, it was a serious offense, perhaps due to evolution. However, at this time, he did not intend to compromise, who let Xie Chi offend him when he was in a bad mood?

  "A veteran of the party and state, a member of the supervisory committee, what a big official hat. If his vision is only this much, he's just a good-for-nothing who eats his salary."

  "You...". Deng Wenyi pointed at Zhuang Jihua with anger, saying loudly: "Are you a member of the Nationalist Party or the Communist Party? How can you insult our party's elder like this?"

  "Whether KMT or Communist Party members, they all have to support the Premier's three major policies. Xie Chi is attacking the Premier's three major policies, I'd like to ask if he still counts as a follower of the Premier?" Yang Qigang retorted unequivocally against Deng Wen-yi.

  "It cannot be equated that opposition across parties is equal to opposing the Three Great Policies, Xie Gong did not oppose the Three Great Policies." Zeng Kuansheng explained.

  "Shouldn't members of the Communist Party either withdraw from the Nationalist Party or give up their communist beliefs? Isn't this equivalent to negating the Premier's policy of alliance with the Communists?" Liu Chi-hsi asked.

  "Of course not, apart from cooperation within the party, there can also be cooperation outside of the party. Across parties, it means that one person has two beliefs. I'd like to ask what your belief is after all." He Zhonghan was equally blunt, pointing directly at the core of the issue.

  "The Premier has said that the Three Principles of the People and communism are not in conflict." Liu Ch'iu-hsia's reply was somewhat weak.

  "But aren't there two parties? So when you develop party members, which party are you developing them for?" He Zhonghan sensed this weakness and immediately strengthened his attack.

  "We Communist Party members have always been open and aboveboard in our actions. If we say we are helping the Nationalist Party develop, then we will definitely help the Nationalist Party develop, and absolutely not use the Nationalist Party's flag to develop our own organization." Yang Qigang immediately retorted back at He Zhenhan.

  "Hmm, this statement needs facts to prove it. Can you prove that the members your party has developed are truly loyal to our Nationalist Party? I'm afraid not." He Xuehan sneered.

  "You, this is adding insult to injury." Yang Qigang said angrily. Since taking on the role of organizational committee member of the Communist Party's Huangpu Special Branch, he had gained a deeper understanding of internal party affairs. Since collaborating with the Nationalist Party, the development of the party organization had been very slow. Over the past year, not only had the number of party members not increased, but there was even a downward trend. Some comrades within the party had already begun to murmur in discontent. Now someone was actually questioning the actions of his own party, and he felt deeply hurt and indignant.

  "If it's not a crime of intention, then bring out your proof." Deng Wenyi said with satisfaction.

  How could this be proven? Yang Qigang was so furious that he didn't know how to respond.

  "This kind of thing can only be tested by time, and time will prove the integrity of our party, as well as the absurdity of these false accusations." Jiang Xianyun's calm and composed voice immediately stabilized Yang Qigang's emotions. After finishing speaking, Jiang looked around at everyone, drawing their attention to himself, and then continued: "Junshan said that we can adopt a form of cooperation outside the party, I think this is possible, but didn't Premier consider this form? Obviously not, Premier obviously considered the form of cooperation outside the party, but why didn't he adopt this form? It's clear that this form has its drawbacks, so Premier gave up and adopted the form of cooperation within the party instead. Therefore, Xie Chi's article is extremely wrong, we should resolutely oppose it."

  Brilliant, absolutely brilliant! Zhuang Jihua secretly gave a thumbs up. If Jiang Xianyun were to become a lawyer, he would definitely be a gold medalist. With just a few sentences, he dissolved He Zhonghan's offensive and turned the situation around from being passive to active. At the same time, by utilizing his admiration for the Premier, he cleverly raised doubts that led the audience into deep thought, making them follow his train of thought and ultimately agree with his conclusion.

  He Zhonghan was speechless and unable to refute Jiang Xianyun's words, so he had no choice but to fall silent. Deng Wenyi saw He Zhonghan not speaking, and himself could not find a reason to refute Jiang Xianyun either, so he also fell silent, only staring fiercely at Zhuang Jihua, which made Zhuang Jihua feel inexplicable. In fact, he didn't know that his status among the Huangpu classmates, especially those Nationalist Party classmates, was very high. These classmates unanimously believed that Jiang Xianyun's move could only be countered by Zhuang Jihua, and vice versa. Today Deng Wenyi accused Zhuang Jihua, so it was impossible to expect Zhuang Jihua to speak up and refute Jiang Xianyun.