Text/Fu Huaxuan
On January 20, 1924, the Kuomintang Congress was held in Guangzhou. Through arduous efforts, Sun Yat-sen suppressed the different voices in the party and resolutely reorganized the Kuomintang, and he wanted to transform a party of the "scholarly" strata into a qualified political party with the participation and support of the people. Sun Yat-sen's next main task was to create an army loyal to the party and loyal to himself. To have such an army, there must be schools for training officers. So he decided to set up two schools, the National Guangdong University and the Chinese Kuomintang Army Officer School. The former is now Sun Yat-sen University. So, where is the well-known "Whampoa Military Academy"? In fact, there has never been any "Whampoa Military Academy", but because the Chinese Kuomintang Army Officer School was later located on Changzhou Island in Huangpu District, Guangzhou City, everyone called it "Huangpu" instead of the place name, and its real name was ignored by the world. Just as a person's nickname rings and the real name is ignored. For the sake of convenience, the following narrative is still called the Whampoa Military Academy.
Let's talk about this cradle that has cultivated countless generals, and talk about the greatest military academy in modern Chinese history.
With the help of the Soviet Union, Sun Yat-sen finally took the first step of "establishing an officer school and establishing a revolutionary army": setting up a military academy preparatory committee and appointing the 37-year-old Chiang Kai-shek as chairman of the preparatory committee.
It is worth mentioning that in the preparatory process for the Whampoa Military Academy, due to the heavy preparatory work, the extreme shortage of funds for running the school, weapons, ammunition, and training equipment, and the fact that many veteran revolutionary cadres were holding him in check out of psychological imbalance, Chiang Kai-shek repeatedly planned to pick aside and not to do anything, and finally Sun Yat-sen took out the shelf of the old leader and fiercely criticized Chiang Kai-shek, so that he could reluctantly pick up this burden.
The Preparatory Committee was established in late January 1924, and in May the school was inaugurated and enrollment began, and on June 16, new students were admitted. Such progress is reminiscent. In fact, according to the current construction standards, the Whampoa Military Academy is not a regular military academy. To say that it is not formal is to not want to sweep away the face of these historical cattle people, but to talk about the ugly point, how can running a school be like this, hurriedly and in a hurry. Although the Whampoa Military Academy is a bit hasty, it is finally starting, poor and white, how not easy!
Let's take a look at the first leadership team of the Whampoa Military Academy, and please note that most of them will be in the next few decades, dominating China for half a century.
Military Academy Premier Sun Yat-sen. Mr. Sun's favorite in this life is the title of prime minister, so much so that the military academy has to set up a premier.
The principal, Chiang Kai-shek, although his seniority is not old enough, but as the only senior cadre who is proficient in the military and political propaganda, and who has won the trust of Sun Yat-sen, this principal has to be appointed by him. Of course, this also has a certain relationship with his good at interpersonal relations, such as his allies Zhang Jingjiang, Dai Jitao, Xu Chongzhi, and Liao Zhongkai, who has a good relationship in his daily life, are willing to help him speak and support him as the principal.
Liao Zhongkai, a party representative, never stayed in the army, but he followed Sun Yat-sen for many years, stood the test for a long time, and his ability to engage in finances was also good. This system of party representation is based on the Soviet Union, which is equivalent to the political commissar of our current military academies.
Director of the Political Department Dai Jitao. This benevolent brother ran away after less than a month of work and did not quit. Why didn't he quit and say goodbye? It turned out that the principal Chiang Kai-shek and the director of the political department, Dai Jitao, were iron brothers, and the "Jiang Dai" combination joined forces, who in Huangpu could resist? For the Whampoa Military Academy, which is a fragrant food with the interests of all parties entangled, this obviously undermines the balance of political power in it. Therefore, the red-eyed people within the Kuomintang have jumped out one after another to oppose: either Jiang goes, or Dai goes, and the two are more than one! Dai Jitao was also righteous enough, and he left the opportunity for Chiang Kai-shek to leave the Whampoa Military Academy himself to organize another new university, Sun Yat-sen University. But then again, because he ran away, the handsome and promising Zhou Enlai could take over as director of the political department.
Chief Tactical Instructor He Yingqin. He studied at the Zhenwu School in Japan and was an alumnus of Chiang Kai-shek. A year ago, he was still working under the warlords of Guizhou, and his position was the chief of staff of the Guizhou Provincial Military Region, but unfortunately, the fighting in the nest there was too fierce, so he switched to Chiang Kai-shek's classmates with a promising future. Later, He Yingqin became the second most influential figure in the Whampoa clan after Chiang Kai-shek, and worked in Taiwan until his retirement.
Li Jishen, director of the coaching department, graduated from Baoding Military Academy. He was not only a powerful faction in the Guangdong Army, but also had a very good relationship with the New Gui Clan, and had a strong activity energy in the Liangguang area.
Deng Yanda, chief of education, chief of the general team, and deputy director of the coaching department, graduated from the Baoding Military Academy and was originally a staff officer of the First Division of the Guangdong Army.
Wang Bailing, director of the Professor's Department, graduated from the Baoding Military Academy, this guy fled as soon as he encountered danger, and he was really a classic figure with no face and no skin.
Ye Jianying, deputy director of the Professorial Department, and Ye Jianying, who was only a junior officer two years ago, were actually promoted to deputy director of the Professorial Department at this time. The only explanation for this can only be that in the incident of Chen Jiongming's shelling of the presidential palace, he "saved the car" in the line of fire and won the trust and appreciation of Sun Yat-sen.
The head of the advisory group was General Galen from the Soviet Union, whose real name was Bryucher, who was later made a Marshal of the Soviet Union. The advisory group he led also included artillery expert Borogin, communications expert Dratvin, strategy expert Chelepanov ... Their arrival greatly improved the tactical level of the teachers and students of the Whampoa Military Academy.
Chen Cheng, Director of the President's Office. Chen Cheng, a scholar of the Baoding Army Officers' Military Academy, followed Chiang Kai-shek all his life, and was one of Chiang Kai-shek's closest confidants, both on the mainland and in Taiwan.
Chen Guofu, a member of the Admissions Committee, was the nephew of Chiang Kai-shek's brother Chen Qimei.
Chen Lifu, confidential secretary of the President's Office, Chen Guofu's brother, Chen Qimei's nephew, and a master's degree in mining from the University of Pittsburgh.
No one would have thought that the Whampoa Military Academy, which trembled and started on this humble island, would become famous in the future. Since the establishment of the school, in the long years of more than half a century, the shadow of the Whampoa soldiers has been seen in almost every major historical event.
There are so many instructors and graduates of the Whampoa Military Academy that each of them can write a book or make a movie. What was the force that made this hastily built grass bench team burst out with such incredible energy?
The school spirit of the Whampoa Military Academy can be seen from a couplet on the school gate,
Shanglian: Promotion to fortune please go elsewhere,
Downlink: Greed for fear of death do not enter the door,
Horizontal batch: Revolutionaries come.
The key to the success of the Whampoa Military Academy lies in the excellent quality of its students.
At that time, the soldiers were in chaos, and it was difficult to recruit excellent students! However, the Whampoa cattle are here, and they do not worry about their livelihood. Speaking of which, it is thanks to the help of the Soviet Union, and of course to Sun Yat-sen's change. Taking the Soviet Union as his teacher, Sun Yat-sen not only received solid material assistance, but also greatly improved the ideological quality of the cadre contingent with the help of the Soviet Union or the Communist Party. It took less than a year for the main leaders of the Kuomintang to abandon the habit of looking only upwards and their arrogant attitude toward ordinary people. The Kuomintang began to sincerely and enthusiastically go to the grass-roots level, to the workers and peasants, to propagate its own ideas and its own theories. Therefore, the Chinese people began to feel that Sun Yat-sen and the representatives of the Guangdong government were progressive and hopeful.
It is in this context that for a time, "Go to Guangzhou!" Whampoa Military Academy go! "It has become the most fashionable slogan, and countless aspiring young people have taken action." They went to Guangzhou in droves for one purpose — to save China! In Guangzhou in 1924, elites gathered, and it was these people who led the starring role in China's modern and contemporary historical dramas for decades.
The Whampoa Military Academy's enrollment is not like those warlords, regardless of whether it is good or bad, it is recruited by people, but it is necessary to talk about conditions. Please see Whampoa's harsh admission criteria:
Criterion one, political qualification.
Standard two, there must be a high level of education. The Whampoa Military Academy's admissions examination was divided into three levels: the initial examination, the re-examination, and the general examination, and the content of the examination actually included geometry and algebra, which few people had heard of in that era. It is difficult to pass the test without high school knowledge, which means that candidates already have the same academic ability above high school before taking the test.
Criterion three, the interview should be able to pass. In fact, the requirements for eloquence and adaptability are relatively high, because these people must be cadres of the army after graduation.
It is said that there is a special content of the interview: the examination of appearance. Principal Jiang will feel good about those students who have clear bones, good faces and bright eyes, and will take care of them, but those crooked dates that look too much below the aesthetic standard will resolutely not. This may be the reason why most of the Whampoa soldiers we see later are heroic.