Although the Xinhai Revolution overthrew the rule of the Qing Dynasty and established the Republic of China, it did not complete the task of anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism. Not only that, the achievements of the Xinhai Revolution were stolen by the warlords, the country fell into division and war, and the people still lived in dire straits.
On May 5, 1921, Sun Yat-sen was inaugurated as the non-permanent president of the Republic of China in Guangzhou, and in order to defend the achievements of the Xinhai Revolution, he declared a crusade against the Beiyang warlords.
On October 8, the Extraordinary Session of the Guangzhou National Assembly passed Sun Yat-sen's Northern Expedition bill, deciding to lead the revolutionary army to the Northern Expedition and unify China.
Sun Yat-sen
One day in October, Sun Yat-sen sailed up the river from Guangdong on the gunboat Baobi and arrived in Wuzhou on the afternoon of October 17, accompanied by more than 20 people, including Hu Hanmin, Liao Zhongkai, Chen Shaobai, Deng Jiayan, and the presidential office.
Sun Yat-sen dispatched troops and generals in Wuzhou, and he faced tens of thousands of people at the Wuzhou University And delivered a generous speech: "Warlords are divided, civil wars are frequent, the country is divided, and the people are not happy. In order to eradicate the evil Beiyang warlords and unify the motherland, the president of this university specially led a revolutionary army to go out to the Northern Expedition. ”
After Sun Yat-sen led the Northern Expeditionary Army fleet out of Wuzhou, it went up the Gui River.
On November 15, Sun Yat-sen's Northern Expeditionary Forces divided into two routes, one along the waterway and the other by land. On the way north to Guilin, a troop carrier ran aground at WulongTan in Gaowen Village, Dumpshui Town, and the ship was not salvaged by cultural relics archaeologists in 9 meters of water until 1998.
Northern Expeditionary Army
On November 27, Sun Yat-sen arrived in Pingle and ordered the armies to concentrate in Guilin. Two days later, he arrived in Yangshuo by warship and gave a speech entitled "Implementing the Three People's Principles and Developing the Yangshuo Method of Enriching the Source of Wealth" in the county seat of Yangshuo.
When passing through the Zhao fishing village in Xingping, Sun Yat-sen saw that the mountains and rivers here were very majestic and a very good military stronghold, so accompanied by the local garrison Zhao Yuanjie, he led his retinue to Tianshui Village and praised the beauty and simplicity of the fishing village.
On December 4, Sun Yat-sen successfully arrived in Guilin and set up the headquarters of the Northern Expeditionary Army in the Jingjiang Wangcheng Under the Duxiu Peak in Guilin, and then his wife Song Qingling led the members of the Red Cross Society to arrive here.
As early as after Zhu Yuanzhang established power in the Ming Dynasty, he believed that Duxiu peak was a land of hidden dragons, so he named his nephew as the envoy of the King of Jingjiang, and also built the area around Duxiu Peak as the king of Jingjiang.
Brick by brick, grass and tree here have witnessed the major historical events experienced by the base camp of the Northern Expedition. Sun Yat-sen successively concentrated about 50,000 people in 30 battalions of 10 mixed brigades, reorganized them into 7 armies, supervised training, and prepared to send out the Northern Expedition in three batches.
According to Ye Jianying, the founding marshal of new China, in the article "The Thoughts and Fearless Spirit of Dr. Sun Yat-sen":
"Based on the revolutionary experience of the past few decades and the current situation, Sun Yat-sen understood that if you want to make a revolution, you must have revolutionary armed forces, and you cannot rely solely on riots and the method of moving the old army to defect, so he began to reorganize the army under the Duxiu Peak in Guilin."
This was the first time that Sun Yat-sen personally participated in the organization and ideological construction of the army, and the army was established as the headquarters of the marshal of the army and navy and its subordinate institutions, and the whole army provided training and combat operations in a unified manner.
The Fu River, which flowed from Guilin to Wuzhou, was the Li River and the Gui River, which was the main transportation route of the Northern Expeditionary Army. However, some officers have long oppressed the people and requisitioned civilian ships to engage in commercial activities here for profit.
Ye Jianying in 1921
After the establishment of the base camp of the Northern Expeditionary Army in Guilin, Sun Yat-sen established the Fuhe Ship Administration Bureau to unify the management of fuhe ships and send troops to protect the transportation, and Ye Jianying was appointed as the commander of the second battalion of escorts.
In addition, Sun Yat-sen also established a supply bureau and set up military stations to prevent the army from harassing the people.
Ye Jianying later recalled:
"At that time, the reorganization of the army was carried out in two ways, with the method of Mr. Nakayama's personal lectures for officers above the regimental commander; for officers at the company and platoon level, they were reorganized in the form of officer teaching regiments. I have also listened to several lectures, such as Dr. Sun Yat-sen's call of the revolution the people's revolution at that time, and I was deeply impressed by the need to establish a country ruled by the people, owned by the people, and enjoyed by the people, as well as the explanation of wisdom, benevolence, and courage. ”
Under Duxiu Peak, Sun Yat-sen gave a speech entitled "Spiritual Education for Revolutionary Soldiers", which is a brilliant document of the whole army in Guilin, which pointed out:
"Summarizing cosmic phenomena, both matter and spirit. Although spirit is the object of matter, reality complements and is used... Therefore, today, to save the country and save the people, it is necessary to make a revolution, and the revolution must have a spirit. ”
Sun Yat-sen called on the officers and men of the Northern Expedition to carry forward the spirit of wisdom, benevolence, and courage of the soldiers, shoulder the heavy responsibility of revolution, and complete the great cause of saving the country and the people.
The reorganization of the army in Guilin was the first time that Sun Yat-sen led and personally participated in the organizational and ideological construction of the army; from the organizational, political, and military aspects, the education and transformation of the specific practice of the old army not only united and educated the various Northern Expeditionary forces, but also cultivated a number of enthusiastic young people of the middle and lower-ranking officers of the Northern Expedition army into a backbone revolutionary force.
At that time, in the Northern Expeditionary Army in Guilin, a number of ethnic elites were gathered, and they made significant contributions in the Northern Expedition War in which the Kuomintang and the Communists later cooperated. Among them, Ye Ting, Ye Jianying and others are the most outstanding representative figures.
Through this reorganization of the army in Guilin, Sun Yat-sen's thinking on army building has become more and more mature.
During his stay in Guilin, Sun Yat-sen also did an event of great historical significance, that is, to meet with Ma Lin, a representative of the Comintern.
Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary struggle suffered several setbacks, and he deeply felt that the Chinese revolution must change course, and the victory of the October Revolution in Russia gave him new hope. He was eager to understand the reasons for the success of the Russian Revolution and to seek the assistance of Soviet Russia for the Chinese National Revolution.
In early June 1921, Marin, a representative of the Comintern, arrived in Shanghai and actively promoted the founding of the Communist Party of China. In December of the same year, Sun Yat-sen met with Ma Lin in Guilin, and the two had several long conversations over a nine-day period.
Marin suggested to Sun Yat-sen that the revolutionary classes should be united to reorganize the Kuomintang, build a revolutionary army, and so on. Through the talks, Sun Yat-sen's concept of taking Russia as a teacher and supporting peasant workers became clearer and clearer.
Marin
After the talks ended, Sun Yat-sen had a better understanding and understanding of Soviet Russia, and he immediately wrote to Liao Zhongkai and others to express his great satisfaction with the talks. In his letter, he made it clear: "The republics of the United States and France are old," while the russian republics are new. ”
During the base camp of the Guilin Northern Expedition, Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary thinking underwent a great change, and he realized that in order to win the victory of the Chinese democratic revolution, it was necessary to build a revolutionary army controlled by the revolutionary party. The Kuomintang must also add new blood to regain its life.
At the same time, Sun Yat-sen also went to Lize Gate to commemorate the deeds of the martyrs by paying homage to Jiang Yiwu, the founder of the Wuchang Uprising. He accepted the suggestion of an old league member in Guilin, erected a monument here to commemorate it, and personally inscribed "Mr. Jiang Yiwu, the founding father of the country, is righteous."
As early as July 1913, Jiang Yiwu returned to Hunan to participate in the Second Revolution, but was wanted after his defeat. On August 29, when he traveled south to Xing'an County, the capital of Quanzhou, Guangxi, he was captured by the men of Qin Buqu, the commander of the garrison, and then escorted to Guilin. At yuan shikai's behest, Jiang Yiwu was shot and killed by Lu Rongting, the governor of Guangxi.
On February 27, 1922, Sun Yat-sen held a military parade and flag-awarding ceremony at the exercise ground of the Guilin Army Academy, and he led all the officers and men to swear an oath: "The survival of the Republic of China, the misfortune of compatriots, the success or failure of the revolution, and the happiness of oneself. To save the country and save the people, for the public and private, only struggle, unity of purpose, there is no retreat. ”
The forward troops of the Northern Expedition entered Hunan from Guilin, and the Hunan warlord Zhao Hengti sent a telegram: "Reject the Northern Expeditionary Army's entry into Hunan."
At this time, Chen Jiongming, commander-in-chief of the Guangdong Army, obstructed and sabotaged the Northern Expedition, while Deng Hao, chief of staff of the General Headquarters of the Guangdong Army and commander of the First Division of the Guangdong Army, who supported the Northern Expedition, was assassinated.
On March 26, Sun Yat-sen held an emergency military conference at the base camp of the Northern Expedition in Guilin, believing that Chen Jiongming was scheming and that the rear of Guangdong was unstable, and decided to change the Plan of the Northern Expedition.
As a result, Sun Yat-sen left Guilin on a warship and arrived in Wuzhou on April 16. This was Sun Yat-sen's third time stationed in Wuzhou during the Northern Expedition, and he first dismissed Chen Jiongming from his posts of chief of internal affairs, governor of Guangdong Province, and commander-in-chief of the Guangdong Army, in order to show his punishment for obstructing the Northern Expedition and retain his post of minister of war to urge him to repent.
Xu Shichang
Sun Yat-sen ordered the Northern Expeditionary Army to return to Guangdong from Guilin, and the base camp of the Northern Expeditionary Army was moved to Shaoguan, Guangdong.
Earlier, Sun Yat-sen declared to all sectors of Chinese society: "As long as the illegal president of Beijing, Xu Shichang, resigns and goes to the opposition and restores the Provisional Law of the Republic of China, sun Wen will also immediately resign and go to the opposition." ”
After Xu Shichang was forced to step down, the warlord Cao Kun restored the Provisional Law of the Republic of China, so all sectors of society began to call on Sun Yat-sen to step down, including some well-known people in society such as Hu Shi and Cai Yuanpei.
However, Sun Yat-sen ignored the appeals of this group of intellectuals and refused to resign and go to the opposition. For a time, some media rioted, and Sun Yat-sen also fell into a passive situation.
After Sun Yat-sen refused to go to the wilderness, his follower, Chen Jiongming, gradually became dissatisfied with his leader. Chen Jiongming disagreed with Sun Yat-sen, saying: "The reason why we have been making revolutions and trying to overthrow the Beiyang government by force is nothing more than because the Beiyang warlords have abolished the Provisional Covenant Law and ravaged democratic constitutionalism. Now, now that the "Provisional Covenant Law" has been restored, we naturally do not have to rebel, and we should first do a good job of "democratic constitutionalism" in Guangdong and gradually move toward the peaceful reunification of the whole country.
Sun Yat-sen disagreed with Chen Jiongming's claims, insisting: "It is necessary to use force to carry out the Northern Expedition and overthrow the Beiyang government." ”
As a result, the contradiction between Chen Jiongming and Sun Yat-sen became deeper and deeper.
It was not until June 12, 1922, that Sun Yat-sen finally showed Chen Jiongming and said, "Your troops (Cantonese troops) must withdraw thirty miles away from Guangzhou." ”
Chen Jiongming
On June 14, Chen Jiongming issued a telegram entitled "All Officers and Men of the Cantonese Army Ask sun Yat-sen to go down to the wilderness", calling on Sun Yat-sen to resign and go to the wilderness, but
Sun Yat-sen still ignored it.
June 16
3 a.m
Chen Jiongming's subordinates Ye Ju and Hong Zhaolin openly led an army to shell the presidential palace in Yuexiulou, and Sun Yat-sen was forced to flee to the Yongfeng ship for refuge.
Although the Northern Expedition failed this time, Sun Yat-sen's activities in establishing the base camp of the Northern Expedition in Guilin left a towering milestone in Chinese history.