Back to the Republic of China as a commander

At [-] a.m. on May [-]st, the Southern Nationalist Government issued a nationwide telegram, announcing the withdrawal of customs offices in nine southern provinces.On the same day, Wang Zhengting, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Southern Nationalist Government, signed the "Agreement on Taking Back the Customs of the Nine Southern Provinces" in Shanghai with the British and French consuls stationed in Shanghai on behalf of the Nationalist Government.According to the agreement, the customs of the nine southern provinces will be handed over to the Nationalist Government from today, and the Nationalist Government can set their own tariffs. At the same time, the Nationalist Government does not need to use the remaining customs to bear responsibilities such as Boxer indemnity.

When the news came out, the world was in an uproar.In Fuzhou, in Guangzhou, and in Shanghai, the customs handover ceremonies of the three regions were going on, and the patriotic crowd who watched were excited and burst into tears.The news media also wrote articles praising the national government's feat of fighting for national power, saying that the withdrawal of customs was a major diplomatic victory since the Opium War, and it was a symbol of China's progress toward democracy and prosperity.

The British Minister Zhu Erdian also became worried after seeing the comments in these newspapers. He told the French Minister Kant: "I hope that what we have opened this time is not Pandora's box."

Next, the issue of labor and the participating troops was naturally not discussed with Wang Zhengting, a diplomat who could not understand the situation at all. In fact, Wang Zhenyu's personal representative Yang Yongtai was in charge of the negotiation on customs issues before, including steel products. Military supplies are a series of transactions in it.But it doesn't matter, this does not prevent Wang Zhengting, a young foreign minister, from remaining in the history textbooks with a positive image.

Labor issues were directly communicated by the Consul General of France in Shanghai and Mr. Hu Hanmin, President of the National Government Administration Council.On the issue of the participating troops, the French Consul in Hankou secretly contacted Yang Yongtai, who had just been appointed governor of Hubei Province, and Zhao Hengti, who had just been appointed head of the European Military Observer Mission.

Some families are happy and some are sad. When the national government and Britain and France are fighting fiercely, some people have a hard time.

The first is Japan. Due to the successful secrecy work of the national government this time, the Japanese even learned from a British customs employee on the night of April 4 that the Chinese would withdraw from the customs the next day.Such a major event, the response of the imperial diplomats and spies in China was so slow.As the first person in charge, Hiki Masaki, the Japanese Minister to China, was recalled to Japan.At the same time, the secret service intelligence agency stationed in China was also ordered to reorganize, and Sakatoshi Nishihachiro was dismissed and recalled.And Kenji Doihara, who managed to infiltrate the South under the pseudonym Wang Lewei, was also recalled to Beijing to participate in the reorganization. Despite his reluctance, Kenji Doihara did not dare to disobey the orders of his superiors.Many years later, Kenji Doihara pointed out at a symposium that the reorganization of the spy agencies this time was completely meaningless, and even helped the Chinese to a large extent.

The most embarrassing thing is the central government in Beijing. The national government, as a regional government under its jurisdiction, only made a notification on May [-]st.Now there is a sharp contrast. On the one hand, the sovereignty of the customs has been taken back, and on the other hand, even Shandong is not allowed to return. How can you make the central government feel uncomfortable?

Army Minister Duan Qirui instructed his cronies to publicly build momentum, demanding that President Li Yuanhong and Premier Xiong Xiling punish this behavior for violating the armistice agreement between the North and the South regarding diplomatic power vested in the central government.Xiong Xiling said without showing any weakness: patriotism is not a crime.Li Yuanhong laughed and said nothing, the demeanor of the two made Duan Qirui obviously feel that these two bosses in his name were difficult to deal with.

It should be said that Britain and France's decision was a timely help. The Nationalist Government took back the customs of the nine southern provinces just a few days after its establishment. The huge political prestige generated here is extremely valuable.

After Wang Zhenyu was taken back by the customs, he finally left for Wuhan, and all the leaders of the Nationalist Government came to see him off in person.After Wang Zhenyu shook hands with them one by one, after thinking for a while, he shook hands with Hu Hanmin again and said, "Cousin Zhan, although you have different political views, you are all people who have the national interest in your heart. I hope that my brother can properly solve the problem in the interests of the nation, and I will wait for the good news in Wuhan."

After hearing this, Hu Hanmin nodded and said, "I don't have anything else to do, I just hope that the chairman will cherish the power of the people when making various decisions in the future."

Wang Zhenyu nodded, turned around and boarded the boat. . .

After returning to Wuhan, there are several things that need to be arranged by Wang Zhenyu.

The first one is the question of the military inspection team. The leader of the team has been confirmed, Zhao Hengti.For this foster brother, Wang Zhenyu still feels a little indebted, and he just gave him the post of secretary-general of a military committee.From the current point of view, this position is a post responsible for the daily internal work of the Military Commission, and strictly speaking, it does not have much power.So Wang Zhenyu thought over and over again and decided that Zhao Hengti should first be awarded the rank of general, and secondly, a deputy chief of staff should be awarded to him. Finally, after the awarding ceremony, he would be appointed as the head of the military observation team and take people to Europe to see the great powers. How to fight.

As for who should be selected by the military observation team, Wang Zhenyu's principle is that whoever wants to lead troops to fight in Europe in the future will go.

After thinking about it, Bai Chongxi is undoubtedly a must-choice existence. Looking at the whole army, this one can be regarded as a genius, and the future commander of the expeditionary force must be this one.Therefore, Bai Chongxi can choose other officers who participated in the observation team according to his personal habits. Anyway, they will be used in Europe in the end.

The second thing is the land reform. Wang Zhenyu only decided to pilot the two provinces of Hunan and Hubei, and the other provinces are postponed.After all, this involves the issue of people eating, if it is promoted all at once, it will be troublesome if something goes wrong.But now the specific work has been taken over by the national government and the National Socialist Party task force, and they have allocated enough funds and policies, so it is not a big problem.It is worth mentioning that in order to ensure the smooth construction of the military reclamation farm, Wang Zhenyu established the Huguang Agricultural Construction Corps, planning to resettle [-] demobilized soldiers. At the same time, the land acquisition of this military reclamation farm does not use land bonds, but cash.

The third thing is the armed mobilization and recruit training. Wang Zhenyu plans to recruit 20 young people, and then transfer 25 veterans and officers from 7 field divisions as the backbone, and then these 7 people will form the first expeditionary force. to the tenth division.Due to the enclosure movement caused by the land reform, it is believed that this force can be recruited before July.Then there will be several months of training before boarding a ship for Europe next January.At the same time, the matching requirement is that the French and the British must bring in 25 standard equipment before July, otherwise they will not be able to form an army.

What Wang Zhenyu didn't know was how much controversy this expeditionary force plan had caused in Europe.

The British high-level said very suspiciously: "We must be sure whether these yellow-skinned monkeys from the East will fight. If we only need numbers, we can recruit soldiers from India instead of recruiting from China at a higher price." .”

The diplomats and military attaches who returned from China argued with reason: "Please believe me, gentlemen. The combat effectiveness of these Chinese people is definitely not comparable to those lazy Indians with big beards and who haven't bathed for months. We are in China watched them for four months, and they were no better than soldiers of the British Empire, or even braver."

"Honey, civilized world wars are not the same as native wars, don't be misled by staged wars. And if we do arm so many Chinese and don't have their command, then wait damn After all the Germans have been wiped out, will the Chinese, with their mighty force, recognize our interests in China?"

This is also the most controversial part of everyone. The British insist that since it is an army hired by us with money, the command right naturally belongs to the noble British.But Wang Zhenyu didn't think so. First, China would also be a country participating in the war. Second, these expeditionary forces actually belonged to the participating army.The Allied Powers headed by Britain and France can issue tasks and orders, but how to execute and complete them should not be interfered by people who do not understand this army.

But at this time in Verdun, the war has entered a fierce state, and a large number of young lives are ruthlessly swallowed up every day.The French were the first to be anxious, damn the British, it's not your children who died, we need reinforcements, not some damn command.

And in Wuhan, on May [-]th, in the auditorium of Wuhan Army University, the National Youth Army Awarding and Honoring Ceremony officially started, hosted by Huang Xing, Sun Wen, Wang Longzhong, Zhang Taiyan, and Wang Zhenyu.

According to the recommendation of the preparatory group for the awarding of titles headed by Zhao Hengti, all members of the Standing Committee of the Military Commission will be awarded the rank of general, while Huang Xing, Wang Longzhong, and Wang Zhenyu will be awarded the rank of general and

Specifically, Xu Chongzhi, Xu Yuanquan, Wan Yaohuang, Li Zongren, Li Liejun, Cheng Qian, Liu Xing, Chen Jiongming, and Zhao Hengti will be awarded the rank of general.Sa Zhenbing was awarded the rank of admiral, known as the tenth admiral in history.

Yang Wangui, Ma Xicheng, Bai Chongxi, Tao Zhiyue, Zhu Zhixin, Song Xianfu, Hao Bing, etc. at the ministerial and military commander levels will be awarded the rank of lieutenant general, and the chiefs of staff of the army, such as Yu Zuobai and Li Hongkui, will also be awarded the rank of lieutenant general.

Other division commanders, commanders of provincial military regions, and commanders of the security corps were awarded to major generals, and division chiefs were awarded to colonels.

In addition, there were three other individuals who were individually awarded honors, Colonel Zhang Zizhong, Lieutenant Colonel Zhao Yong, and Colonel Wang Kewen. They were awarded the Bright Medal by Huang Xing himself, while most of the senior generals present were only awarded the Commemorative Medal for participating in the War of National Defense.

It should be said that the result of this awarding of titles and honors has greatly promoted the regularization of the youth army.It is worth mentioning that Wang Zhenyu used the blue sky and white sun badge that was said to be designed by Sun Yat-sen as the cap badge of the Youth Army, and the military flag still used the tiger flag, but Sun Wen was very satisfied with the respect represented by this move.