Chapter 198: Prologue 1

Jingxing Xiansheng, your discerning appraisal:

In the early days of the Huangpu Military Academy, you oversaw the office affairs, and the Sixth Class students benefited from your teachings, as if bathed in a spring breeze. When you lectured, you often said, "Zhongshan Xiansheng's Three Principles of the People have their core in serving the people; a soldier's heavenly duty is to protect the nation and bring peace, not to aid tyrants in cruelty." We have engraved those maxims to this day. You once led troops in the anti‑Japanese war, fighting bloody battles on the battlefield, keeping our mountains and rivers safe—an achievement of the nation, revered by all. You also once wielded the whip at Sanxiang First Normal School, enlightening the juniors, and even Mr. Renmin felt grateful for your kindness. Such magnanimity and spirit are worthy of being our model.

Today the Jiang faction has abandoned Zhongshan Xiansheng's legacy, practicing a dictatorial civil war, ignoring the suffering of the people, and scheming to retreat to Taiwan and split the land. As the Southeast military‑political chief, you hold heavy troops yet are constrained by others; you possess only the desire to protect the realm and ensure the people's safety, unable to enact strategies to save the nation and the people. We, once taught by you, now serve as the vanguard of the people's liberation cause, witnessing the Southeast lands scorched by war, and our hearts ache—your benevolent heart could not stand by while tens of millions of compatriots are displaced.

You and Zhou Ming share a close bond, and we know our Party's sincerity of "no blame for the past, reward for meritorious service." The examples of Beiping's peaceful liberation and Cheng Qian, Chen Mingren's uprising receiving preferential treatment show our army's good treatment of rebel generals. Your courtesy name is "Jingxing," "high mountains are looked up to, Jingxing proceeds." If you were to order a ceasefire, or cause your troops to stop resisting, preserving Southeast's industry, transport and cultural relics, that would be a great merit to the state. We are willing to jointly recommend, earnestly ask our Party to retain a high position for you, to discuss the great plan of national construction together. The soldiers under your command, those who wish to stay will be reorganized, those who wish to leave will be dismissed, with no undue blame.

The Jiang faction is overly suspicious, always "use and doubt, doubt and discard." In earlier years, Wen Zhang and Chen Mingren's great merits were met with suspicion, a precedent indeed. Now the defeat is sealed, Taiwan is merely a place barely clinging to life; how can the Jiang faction tolerate you, holding heavy troops and coexisting with former officials of our Party? If you stubbornly resist, you will not only betray the masses' expectations, but may also fail to preserve yourself.

We, grateful for your teachings, cannot bear to see you become a criminal for all ages, and thus we jointly plead with tears: we hope you put the nation's great righteousness first, the Southeast people above all, and make a swift decision, abandoning darkness for light! We look up in anticipation, ready to welcome you back to the ranks, to embark together on the great cause of nation‑building, living up to the Huangpu oath of our youth and the grace of your teachings!

Jointly signing students (representatives): Chen Geng, Xu Xiangqian, Lin Husan, Luo Ruiqing, Xu Guangda, etc…

May 15, 1949

May 20, 1949, Zhejiang Xikou Li Gongguan Jiuzhi, the rainy season in East Zhejiang, the air so thick it could be wrung for water. Li Yuxuan sat alone in the old house's study; the room where he was born now lay empty, the rosewood furniture long lost to the wars, leaving only an old rattan chair and a mottled desk.

Outside the window, rain threads were woven obliquely. In the distance the sound of guns and cannons had grown sparse—yesterday the Vanguard Unit of the Third Yejun broke through the last defensive line and now is reorganizing outside the town. His Guard Battalion, just over three hundred men, laid down arms this morning under the Chief of Staff's direction. Now, only he and an Old Servant who refuses to leave remain in the old house.

On the desk lay that Letter. The parchment envelope was worn, but the paper inside remained intact. It had been sent five days earlier through a special channel.

"Jingxing Xiansheng, your discerning appraisal…"

Li Yuxuan's fingers brushed the characters on the paper, the ink seeming to have warmth, scorching his fingertips.

"In the early days of the Huangpu Military Academy, you oversaw the office affairs, and the Sixth Class students benefited from your teachings, as if bathed in a spring breeze. When you lectured, you often said, 'Zhongshan Xiansheng's Three Principles of the People have their core in serving the people; a soldier's heavenly duty is to protect the nation and bring peace, not to aid tyrants in cruelty'…"

Memories surged like tidewater.

In 1924, the Huangpu Military Academy office. A young Li Yuxuan stood on the podium, with First Class trainees seated below. He was then only thirty‑four, having served as a scribe for the company commander since childhood, which allowed him to attend a Xinshi Xuetang, then study military in Japan, and after returning to the country take a post at Huangpu.

He recalled that the lesson was titled "The Soldier's Duty." He said, "Ladies and gentlemen, we don't wear this uniform to oppress the people or to vie for power. Zhongshan Xiansheng founded Huangpu so that we would be soldiers who save the nation and the people. When you lead troops in the future, remember—point the barrel outward, not inward; fight for the people, not for private interests."

In the audience, among those young faces, were the quickness of Chen Geng, the steadiness of Xu Xiangqian, the sharpness of Jiang Xianyun… and Zhou Ming's assistant instructor.

"Geng once wielded the whip at Xingcheng Diyi Shifan, enlightening the juniors, and even Mr. Renmin felt grateful for the teacher's kindness…"

That was in 1914, when he taught concurrently at Xingcheng Diyi Shifan. The audience, called Renmin, always wore washed‑out long robes, listening to his lectures on world military history. After class, Renmin often came for counsel; the two once had several long talks about Huaxia's future and the struggle of doctrines. The young Renmin already showed extraordinary insight, once saying, "Mr. Li, your military teachings are important, but I think Huaxia's fundamental problem lies in the land, in the peasants."

How did Li Yuxuan answer then? He said, "Renmin, you are right. But changing the land issue requires strength. Without a gun barrel, any doctrine is merely paper warfare."

Unexpectedly, thirty‑five years later, that slender youth was about to possess all of Huaxia, while this "teacher" sat in the old house about to be seized, becoming a "War Criminal".

"Sir, have some tea." Old Servant Zhou Fu entered carrying the tea tray, his movements a little trembling. He was seventy‑three, a relative of Li Yuxuan's maternal clan, later dispatched to look after the Li family.

Li Yuxuan took the tea cup; it was hometown Longjing, but the water used to brew it was no longer boiling, and the tea leaves floated and sank unevenly.

"Zhou Fu, you should also leave," he said. "The Liberation Army will not trouble an old man like you."

Zhou Fu shook his head, his graying hair in the dim light like a tuft of cotton: "Sir, wherever you are, I am there. My great‑aunt, before she passed, instructed that you have done our family a favor, and I must take good care of you."