Chapter 62: Republic of China: Starting from Whampoa Phase 1, Chapter 62: Reconnaissance in the City

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Protagonist:

Lv Muzhi

Seeing that several people all supported his work, Lv Muzhi inspected his three platoons again.

The troops lost in earlier combat had all been replenished with conscripted units; now the three platoons plus the company headquarters numbered over 120 men, and their combat strength had recovered to a degree.

Lv Muzhi had stayed with the troops only a few days when he received an order to report to headquarters.

Upon arriving at headquarters, Lv Muzhi found his old friend Chen Geng in the office.

Also in the office were the Principal and Official He, Instructor Wu, and others.

The Principal issued an order on the spot: the two were to infiltrate Guangzhou City together and investigate the troop deployments of warlords Yang Ximin and Liu Zhenhuan.

Lv Muzhi was puzzled: with three regiments of the cadet army, why had they chosen him and Chen Geng?

Official He explained: "Sending the two of you is of course not merely for a simple reconnaissance mission; there is another important task."

The Principal took up the conversation: "Muzi, you are the Branch President of the Baoyue Association's Whampoa Branch, and you are a disciple of Chairman Huang Feihong, so you carry some weight with him. I hope you go into the city to win the Baoyue Association's support, and ask them, when necessary, to coordinate inside and outside with the cadet army to defeat the two warlords Yang Ximin and Liu Zhenhuan."

Instructor Wu looked at Chen Geng: "As for you, Chen Geng, go contact the Workers' Picket Corps and the Peasant Self-Defense Corps, have them join hands to resist, and be vigilant against Yang Ximin and Liu Zhenhuan's sabotage of the revolution. Once the time is ripe, together with the cadet army, drive them completely out of Guangzhou City!"

It seemed that after the Grand Marshal's death, the Yunnan Army's Yang Ximin and the Guangxi Army's Liu Zhenhuan were growing increasingly restless, and the cadet army had to prepare countermeasures in advance.

Sending Lv Muzhi and Chen Geng into the city was to prepare against unforeseen events; once the time was ripe, they would deal with Yang Ximin and Liu Zhenhuan's rebellion at the smallest cost.

After receiving the order, the two immediately took off their uniforms, put on ordinary commoners' clothing, disguised themselves, and headed for Guangzhou City.

The two temporarily parted ways outside the city: "Muzi, you enter the city first; I will go to the surrounding villages to contact the Peasant Association people and have them organize the Peasant Self-Defense Corps as quickly as possible, ready to respond to the call to defend the revolution at any time."

Lv Muzhi nodded: "I'll wait for you at Dayuan Restaurant. Remember, our meeting has a signal."

Hearing this, Chen Geng hurriedly praised: "You're the professional one. What's the contact signal?"

"After you enter the city, if you need to make contact, rent a room on the second floor of Dayuan Restaurant, and on the window rack hang, from left to right, a jacket, trousers, and a towel—one of each. Remember, the jacket must be hung inside out, the trousers normally, and the towel must be a gray one spread out to dry. I will check and contact you around eleven every morning."

Chen Geng frowned: "Why so troublesome? Where do these warlords get off being so alert..."

"Eh, that's not right. I'm training you. Maybe you don't need it now, but who knows about later? It's settled. Let's split up and act now."

They agreed that under normal circumstances they would meet again in seven days, then parted ways. Lv Muzhi entered the city to find Huang Feihong and seek the Baoyue Association's support, while Chen Geng first operated in the countryside, mobilizing the Peasant Association to oppose the warlords, before entering the city to find the trade union.

As soon as he reached the city, Lv Muzhi went straight to Baozhilin Pharmacy, and along the way he indeed saw that the Yunnan Army and Guangxi Army had already taken over the urban area.

The Telegraph Office, Train Station, Power Plant, Finance Bureau, and other government organs were all occupied and guarded by soldiers of these two armies.

Dressed in ordinary commoner's garb, Lv Muzhi walked the streets completely unnoticed, and no one found anything unusual about him.

Meanwhile, those so-called elite Yunnan Army troops were now closely observed by Lv Muzhi at close range.

They were truly 'double-gun soldiers,' each carrying a rifle on his shoulder and an opium pipe for smoking opium hanging at his waist.

On streets and alleys, from time to time two or three soldiers squatted by the roadside smoking opium, and the citizens mostly kept their distance, not understanding why suddenly so many double-gun soldiers had appeared on the streets.

Lv Muzhi headed straight for Baozhilin. When he reached the entrance, he saw only that Baozhilin's main gate was tightly closed, with two soldier-rascals sitting at the door.

Lv Muzhi pretended to pass by, took a detour, and then hurried to his Senior Brother Lin Shirong's home.

There were no soldier-rascals standing guard at Lin Shirong's home. Lv Muzhi had the gatekeeper announce him, saying it was a fellow disciple from out of town seeking an audience.

Soon, Lin Shirong brought Lv Muzhi into the house.

"Junior Classmate! You've finally come back!" Lin Shirong's expression upon seeing Lv Muzhi was clearly one of having long awaited him.

"Senior Brother, what has happened to Guangzhou City?"

"What else could it be? Look at those double-gun soldiers—what discipline is this? Back when Lin Zexu destroyed opium at Humen, these double-gun soldiers are actually smoking openly in broad daylight on the streets. What sort of talk is this... Besides smoking opium, they also harass merchants from time to time. These past few days, Guangzhou City has been in utter chaos..."

Lin Shirong poured out a litany of complaints, accusing the Yunnan Army under Yang Ximin and the Guangxi Army under Liu Zhenhuan of all their recent misdeeds.

"Senior Brother, don't panic. These warlords' days are numbered. Our Whampoa Cadet Army will soon come charging back."

"I understand. You came this time surely to ask our Baoyue Association to cooperate, right? Master long ago predicted that you would be sent back here."

Lv Muzhi was a Jizhang disciple of Huang Feihong. Although he had never received martial arts instruction from his old master, he was still concerned about Baozhilin closing its doors: "What's going on with Baozhilin? Why are warlord soldiers standing guard at the entrance?"

"What else could it be? They want our master to be their physical training instructor, and even said they'd later hire our master as chief instructor for all the armies in the province. Our master doesn't care for that at all and has directly claimed illness to recuperate at home. Now I represent our master and will handle all liaison with you. Just tell me what to do, and I'll immediately contact the village militia of the gentry in the countryside to cooperate. Compared with those 'double-gun soldiers,' the common people can still make a living with Guangzhou in your hands. If it falls into their hands, the common people will surely suffer!"

Lv Muzhi thought for a moment: "I still need to go scout the troop deployments of Yang Ximin and Liu Zhenhuan. I'll entrust you, Senior Brother, to contact the various village militias and civilian corps, and have them prepare to cooperate. The specific plan cannot be revealed in advance."

"Understood! I'll go contact them right away. These days you can stay at my house. To outsiders, just say you're a disciple from out of town. Anyway, Yang Ximin and Liu Zhenhuan are both outsiders, and their double-gun soldiers won't be able to dig up anything."

Lv Muzhi temporarily stayed at his Senior Brother Lin Shirong's home. Lin Shirong had sold pork when young, and still operated several meat stalls under his own name.

During the day Lv Muzhi pretended to be a delivery man, using the pretext of transporting live pigs to travel back and forth between Guangzhou and the countryside outside the city, while scouting the troop deployments of the Yunnan Army and Guangxi Army.

The Whampoa Cadet Army and the Yue Army were east of Guangzhou, while the Yunnan Army and Guangxi Army were just outside Guangzhou City, constructing a defensive line from north to south and building fortifications around Baiyun Mountain, Shougou Ridge, and the Liede area.

Lv Muzhi had been to all these places. The students of Whampoa Class 1 conducted military exercises and map survey exercises here, and it was obvious they had long been preparing for future internal strife.

The Liede and Shougou Ridge areas were fresh in Lv Muzhi's memory. The first map survey exercise after his crossing had taken place there, and he would never forget it in this lifetime.

Shougou Ridge was a small highland east of the city, easy to defend and hard to attack. Lv Muzhi saw from afar that the Yunnan Army soldiers had already dug the ridge through and through, crisscrossed with trenches; they had clearly started building fortifications at least half a month in advance.

The Liede area was by the Pearl River, with the Guangjiu Railway Line running through it. There was a Shapai Station at Liede, where the Yunnan Army had deployed heavy troops to guard this railway line entering and leaving the city.

After several days of work, Lv Muzhi made a detailed record of the approximate troop strength at each location.

On the eighth day, he came to the entrance of Dayuan Restaurant and indeed saw a window on the second floor with a jacket, trousers, and a towel hanging from left to right in order, one of each. The clothing was hung inside out, and the towel was gray.

A gust of wind blew the towel down from the second floor to the ground below, and Lv Muzhi reached out and caught it. Immediately he saw Chen Geng's big head poke out of the window, looking nervous, and their eyes met.

A gust of wind blew the towel from the Second Floor down below, where Lv Muzhi caught it with an outstretched hand, and immediately saw Chen Geng's Big Head poke out of the Window, his face Tense, his eyes meeting Muzi's.