Section 26 Inspection (1)

  After receiving Wang Boling's report, Chiang Kai-shek couldn't help but feel a little resentful towards Zhuang Jihua. As soon as he left the troops, he caused trouble by disrespecting his superiors, which has always been a major taboo in the military. This Zhuang Jihua is really an unscrupulous person! Chiang Kai-shek's temples were throbbing with a headache. On one hand, he was an old friend; on the other hand, he was his most admired student - both were flesh and blood to him; this was indeed a difficult situation to handle.

  He put down Wang Boling's report and picked up another intelligence briefing on the table, which was about Chen Jiongming's movements. Since Sun Zhongshan decided to conquer Chen in the east, the Generalissimo's camp strengthened its reconnaissance of Dongjiang, and every period of time would inform high-ranking military officers in Guangzhou about the military situation in Dongjiang.

  Chen Jiongming recently returned to Huizhou from Hong Kong and held a series of military meetings, the content of which was only one attack on Guangzhou, but Chen's subordinates seemed to have different opinions and lacked confidence in attacking Guangzhou. In addition, the leader of the merchant group, Chen Lianbo, also appeared in Huizhou.

  When he saw Chen Lianbo's name, he suddenly remembered something and picked up Wang Boling's report again, looking directly at the signature. Not bad, there was only Wang Boling's signature, no signature of Zhang Jingyu, the party representative of the second battalion. Seeing this, he seemed to understand a bit, maybe he should go to the second battalion for an inspection.

  At this time, Yu Jiti lightly knocked on the door and came in. He took two steps forward and said: "Principal, Director Zhou of the Political Department requests to see you."

  "Please come in."

  "Eh, looking at you, it seems like nothing can stop you from entering the Three Treasures Hall," Chiang Kai-shek walked out from behind his desk. Since this new director of the political department took office, the work of the political department had undergone a huge change, and the atmosphere in school became more uplifting. Chiang Kai-shek had a genuine appreciation for this young GCD person. Therefore, every time he came, Chiang was always very polite. Now Zhou E walked in with a document in his hand, but there was an excited look on his face, he knew it must be good news.

  "Haha, the principal is busy with work and doesn't dare to disturb him without a reason." Director Zhou said with a smile. He was not pleased that Chiang Kai-shek had left a secretary outside the door, and what made it even more unacceptable was that they had to report before meeting, which was clearly the style of a feudal autocratic leader. After observing for some time, he thought that Chiang Kai-shek still had many old-fashioned habits as a military man, but unfortunately, his personality was too strong, and direct criticism might have the opposite effect, so he made veiled criticisms in their conversation.

  "There, there, you can come to me anytime, I told them not to report." Chiang Kai-shek was very sensitive and immediately caught the information contained in Director Zhou's words. He immediately called Yu Jishi to come in and told him that from now on, when Director Zhou came, he didn't need to report and could come in directly. After Yu Jishi agreed, he poured water for the two of them again and then quietly closed the door.

  "The principal doesn't have to do so, and I should also follow the rules set by the principal," said Director Zhou.

  "Good, good!" Chiang Kai-shek shook his head and said: "After you became the director of the political department, the changes in the political department are obvious. You have really helped me a lot." Chiang Kai-shek was good at winning people over and would put in great effort to do so, making people feel that he was very sincere.

  He came with a smile and changed the subject: "Principal, this time I've brought you some good things." After finishing speaking, he handed over the documents in his hand to Chiang Kai-shek.

  "What's this good stuff?" Chiang Kai-shek took a look and saw that it was written "How to Carry Out Thought Work Among Soldiers" by Cao Yuan.

  Chiang Kai-shek was attracted by the title, after the establishment of the teaching group, the ideological work of the soldiers did not go smoothly, and the military school and the teaching group were almost two different worlds.

  Entering the barracks of the instructional troops, the slogans and blackboard newspapers were exactly the same as those in military schools. However, the spirit and appearance of the soldiers were completely different, not much different from those of the old army. Chiang Kai-shek also discussed this issue with graduating students, but they didn't quite understand either. Only Cai Wenji told him the reason: the cultural level of the soldiers was too low, so they couldn't understand the revolutionary principles being taught to them. However, although Cai Wenji knew where the problem lay, he had no way to solve it.

  Chiang Kai-shek was also worried about this, and he found Director Zhou hoping that he could find a solution. Unexpectedly, Director Zhou recommended this article to him today. After Chiang Kai-shek read it carefully and combined it with Wang Boling's report, he basically understood the truth of the matter.

  Two soldiers escaped and were caught, then the Seventh Company took advantage of this incident to conduct a thought education through the confessions of the escaped soldiers, mobilizing the soldiers. However, Zhuang Jihua handled it without reporting to his superiors. The regimental commander, Wang Boling, considered this an affront to his authority and accused Zhuang Jihua of contempt for a superior officer. Although Zhuang Jihua was unintentionally at fault, he also had some arrogance due to being favored by the leadership and didn't put his superiors in his heart. Wang Boling relied on his seniority to deal with Zhuang Jihua, while Zhuang Jihua relied on his own prestige and didn't yield to Wang Boling either. These two men were both under his command, and if they clashed, it wouldn't be a good thing for him.

  Turning his head again, he thought of Cao Yuan's article and found it somewhat interesting. Cao Yuan was also a talented person, but he seemed to be a GCD person. The method he proposed didn't know whether it was really effective or not.

  "Really, is this effective?" Chiang Kai-shek asked with some skepticism.

  "This is their summary, it should be effective." Director Zhou replied.

  "No, no, seeing is believing." Chiang Kai-shek said thoughtfully: "The people below sometimes rush to achieve merit and may exaggerate. Hmm, in that case, tomorrow...no, right now, we'll go to the Second Regiment together and have Wang Boling go to the Seventh Company to take a look."

  "Alright, I'll go and make some inquiries at the political department." Director Zhou also wanted to go and take a look immediately, wondering how the political work of the 7th company was going.

  Chiang Kai-shek and Director Zhou's group arrived at Qiulian in the afternoon, and they heard a chorus of singing from afar.

  …..

  Raise your head, gaze up at the sky and let out a long whistle. With an ardent heart, thirty years of fame and fortune are but dust and dirt. Eight thousand miles of roads are but clouds and moonlight... Wait for the day when I'll return to reclaim my old mountains and rivers, and face the imperial court.

  …

  The sentry stopped Chiang and his party, which was quite unexpected for Chiang as he had never been stopped by a sentry when visiting other units.

  However, the sentry was very polite and first raised his hand in salute before asking who they were. Director Zhou had a mind to test him and jokingly asked if he looked like anyone. The sentry seriously said sorry, my duty is to check the identity of people entering the military camp, you don't tell me your identities, I can't let you in.

  As soon as the words came out, everyone immediately looked at the sentry with new eyes, and Chiang Kai-shek also became interested. Responsibility, this sentry actually understood responsibility.

  "What nonsense are you talking about? What do you know about responsibility?" Wang Boling asked.

  The sentry obviously did not recognize Wang Boling and said with a tone of discontent: "Of course I understand, our company commander has told us."

  "What did Zhang say?" Chiang Kai-shek asked.

  "Duty is doing what needs to be done."

  "Oh, those things should be done by you?" Director Zhou asked.

  "I'm now on sentry duty, my job is to check the identity of everyone who wants to enter the barracks; in the future I'll be fighting, my responsibility is to overthrow the warlords and fight for nationalism." The sentry said sternly, feeling a bit annoyed in his heart. What's wrong with these officers? One by one they come to ask questions, it should be me questioning them! No, this might involve imperialism... no, the company commander said imperialism refers to foreign devils, that... it should be warlords. Thinking of this, the sentry became vigilant: "What kind of people are you?"

  "What kind of people do you think we look like?" This time it was Chiang Kai-shek who asked.

  "I don't know."

  "Do you know what clothes we wear?" Wang Boling was getting a bit impatient.

  "Knowing is the uniform of a superior officer," everyone thought he was going to let them go, but the sentinel's next sentence made several people cry and laugh: "The company commander said that clothes can be borrowed or stolen, but they cannot only recognize clothes, they must recognize certificates, that is, the kind of small book that our company commander and party representative have. Do you have one?"

  "What else did Lian Chang say?" Director Zhou asked.

  "That's enough." The sentry seemed unwilling to chat with them any longer: "Fall back, don't block my patrol."

  "Hehe, okay, I won't stop you." Director Zhou said with a smile, then took out his ID from his breast pocket and handed it to the sentry. The sentry opened it, looked at the photo, then looked at Director Zhou again, before handing the ID back to him and saying, "Please enter, sir."

  "Do you know what's written above?" Director Zhou asked.

  "I don't know." "Then how did you let us in?"

  "Report to the superior officer, I recognize the emblem on top, and it looks like you." The sentry said in a loud voice.

  Wang Bailin was about to leave, but Chiang Kai-shek furrowed his brow and said: "Wait a minute, let's talk some more." Then he called the sentry over and asked him: "What are they doing?"

  "Reporting officer, the company commander is teaching everyone a song."

  "Do you know what song it is?"

  "It is said that this song was written by Yue Fei and it tells of loyalty and dedication to one's country."

  "Can you sing?" This was Director Zhou asking.

  "Report, I didn't finish studying, I can only recite a few sentences."

  "Why didn't you train?" Wang Boling's words were somewhat stern.

  "Report to the officer, now is resting, and... half a bag of cigarettes' time." The sentry said after calculating the time.

  "Should I go in and report to the superior?"

  "No need, we'll go in ourselves."