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After glancing at the date on the letter one last time and confirming that it was an urgent secret letter sent from the capital on January 1st, Wu Zifu laughed heartily.
"Hahaha"
"Teacher, you're still too attached to appearances after all. You actually kept this kind of thing from me?"
Wu Zifu's laughter attracted the attention of the division commander, deputy commander, chief of staff, and other officers of the Sixth Division. Everyone was curious as to why Wu Zifu was suddenly laughing so unrestrainedly.
"Commander, why are you laughing?" The commander of the Sixth Division had frostbite and frost all over his face, and his lips were cracked, but he still showed a curious expression.
Wu Zifu handed over the letter and said cheerfully, "My master has always been bold and unrestrained in his actions over the years, but this time he acted like a thief. How can I not laugh?"
The wind and snow were so heavy that the words on the new document were barely visible. Everyone was wondering what could possibly make the head of state act like a thief.
Wu Zifu said without any hesitation, "My master got my mother pregnant and she gave birth to twins at the end of last year. We held a full-month celebration on New Year's Day."
Everyone was completely bewildered:
Wu Zifu kept laughing: "Haha, he thought he had kept it from me, but I already knew. My junior brothers wouldn't dare to hide this from me. It's just that Master himself thought it was foolproof."
I don't know what he's afraid of. It's a willing marriage; what can I do even if I know? Back when we were fighting the revolution, we weren't afraid of losing our heads. Why are we hiding it now?
Everyone was at a loss for words, and they all sighed that the relationship between Zhao Yan and Wu Zifu, the master and disciple, was too complicated. Both of them were crazy!
What is Zhao Yan afraid of? He's definitely afraid that you, the general in charge of the army, will lead the troops north to purge the court of corrupt officials! You're fighting on the front lines, while your master is messing with your mother in the rear. This is a mess no matter how you look at it.
However, everyone felt that this matter was quite in line with the spirit of the master and disciple. Before Zhao Yan personally led the expedition to East Asia and launched the Far East War, he unhesitatingly placed his hopes for the country and the future on his disciple Wu Zifu, and was not afraid of Wu Zifu betraying him at all.
Wu Zifu was also a madman. Despite having great power in his hands, and being able to easily become a powerful warlord in a region, he would obey Zhao Yan's orders without hesitation, showing no regard for the power he held.
The unwavering bond and boundless trust between this master and disciple is something that outsiders simply cannot comprehend.
Now it's even more outrageous! The master has become the stepfather. While the disciple was on an expedition to the plateau, the master gave birth to two younger brothers for him. It's truly baffling.
"Alright, let's continue our journey. It's just a small matter, don't let it delay our revolutionary cause!" Wu Zifu casually tossed the letter away, letting it drift away in the wind, and continued to trek through the high-altitude snow, leaning on his wooden trekking poles.
Wu Zifu didn't take the matter to heart at all. He didn't think there was anything wrong with his master marrying his own mother. In fact, he thought it was the most suitable thing. Only a man as decisive and brave as his master was worthy of his widowed mother. He wouldn't be happy if someone else became his stepfather. But it was also inappropriate for his mother, who was only in her early thirties, to live a life of widowhood. This ending was already quite good.
Wu Zifu is now fully focused on clearing the plateau; everything else is secondary. Only practicing his beliefs brings him fulfillment and joy.
Now, his Sixth Army Group has almost been stained red with patriotism, and the Sixth Mountain Infantry Division, which accompanied him on the expedition to the plateau, is an especially thoroughly patriotic unit.
The Sixth Mountain Infantry Division was an absolutely elite division that Wu Zifu personally applied to the Ministry of National Defense to establish. Thirty percent of the officers and soldiers in the division were members of the Fuxing Party, and the officers were 100% the most steadfast members of the Fuxing Party. As for which faction of the Fuxing Party they belonged to, it goes without saying that they were 100% proletarians.
When the Sixth Division was first established in Chengdu, it had 13,000 fully equipped personnel. However, since its departure from Chengdu, only 7,200 people remain.
After this long expedition, the Sixth Division's casualty rate reached an astonishing 47 percent, of which only about 400 died in combat, with the majority being non-combat casualties.
More than 4,000 wounded and sick people were unable to continue along the way. They were all settled in nearby towns and villages and then waited for an opportunity to return to Chengdu one by one.
The terrain and climate of the plateau are extremely harsh, and the officers and soldiers who have been able to persevere until now are all the best of the best, the elite of the elite.
Wu Zifu inherited Zhao Yan's personal charisma and the power of his faith. The officers and soldiers of the Sixth Division followed Wu Zifu to quell the rebellion in southern China, then went south to Burma, and then west to the plateau, experiencing all sorts of unimaginably complex environments and severe challenges along the way.
After the great wave of change swept away the sand, just like the Long March in the original timeline, almost all those who remained were the most fanatical proletarians.
This group of ruthless people were ruthless to themselves and even more ruthless to their enemies. Along the way, they slaughtered the chieftains and slave owners, leaving rivers of blood. With only a few thousand people, they shook the entire snowy plateau and made the living Buddhas of Tibet tremble with fear.
The chieftains and living Buddhas on the Tibetan Plateau never expected that there would be someone as stubborn as Wu Zifu. They never dreamed that a rebellion in western Sichuan would lead to Wu Zifu targeting them, who were just bystanders on the Tibetan Plateau.
The lords and lamas even sent representatives south to India to seek help from the British, wanting to submit to Britain in exchange for their support. As long as they could maintain the status of serf owners and preserve the detached position of monks and noble lords, they did not care which government they were loyal to.
But when the British heard that Wu Zifu was leading the army to conquer the plateau, they immediately kidnapped the Tibetan rebel representative and sent him to Yunnan.
What a joke! The British went to great lengths to drive Wu Zifu back from Burma, and they are still "suppressing the Communists" in the mountains of Burma. The British have already fully experienced the power of Wu Zifu, Zhao Yan's top disciple.
This guy becomes famous wherever he goes; he's practically a colonial atomic bomb. In places he's occupied, even if he leaves, it's incredibly difficult for the colonists to re-establish their rule when they return.
The British repeatedly emphasized to Beijing the provisions of the Shanghai Treaty and the spirit of Zhao Yan's press conference in Beijing, reiterating Britain's recognition of China's territorial sovereignty over Tibet. They stressed that Britain had no intention of interfering in China's internal affairs and asked Zhao Yan to restrain his senior disciple, telling him to stay on the plateau and not to go south to India.
The lords and Living Buddhas of Tibet had never encountered anything like this in their lives. They were forced into becoming "rebels" out of nowhere. Even the British, who used to frequently fawn over them, now treated them like trash, and the central government in Beijing completely ignored them.
Tibet was completely used as a punching bag for Wu Zifu. As long as Wu Zifu didn't mess with other places, it was perfectly fine for the central government in Beijing to mess with Tibet.
The British, who are closest to Tibet, also regard Tibet as a buffer zone, hoping that Wu Zifu, this red fighter, will stop fighting on the plateau. They even expressed their willingness to close the border to prevent Chinese rebels from entering. If Wu Zifu needs anything, the British are willing to sell it to him, as long as he doesn't go south, everything is negotiable.
Finally, having no other choice, the Tibetan noble lords could only keep writing letters of surrender to Wu Zifu. At first, they demanded that Wu Zifu withdraw his troops, but then they said they only needed Wu Zifu to protect their property.
After Wu Zifu conquered Bomi, the hometown of the Tibetan king, and slaughtered all the slave owners there, the Tibetan nobles finally realized the reality and wrote to Wu Zifu, saying that they could abolish serfdom, liberate all slaves, and even hand over some of their property, only asking that Wu Zifu could spare their lives and faith.
But Wu Zifu's replies were always cold rejections. What a joke! Zhao Yan was completely helpless against Wu Zifu's extreme obsession!
Wu Zifu's goal was very brutal and simple: to eliminate the slave system that challenged his beliefs from the plateau, both physically and mentally.
Wu Zifu was the kind of person who liked to go to extremes. Along the way, in the Tibetan areas, anything that did not conform to his religious standards, whether it was a temple or a mansion, was physically destroyed. As for people he disapproved of, they were all buried under piles of mandalas.
Even the serfs he liberated were terrified. This liberator dared to bombard even Buddha statues, completely disregarding the wishes of those he liberated; he simply did as he pleased.
Now that Wu Zifu's army has crossed Mila Mountain, the rest of the journey is all about descending from high ground, and they can go all the way downhill to Lhasa without any fear of the nobles and monks escaping.
Given the terrain of the plateau, if you leave your habitable area, Wu Zifu won't even need to hunt you down; the harsh natural environment and climate will be enough to kill you.
There are only so many habitable places in all of Tibet. With the help of freed serfs, Wu Zifu has no problem finding you. Once you are driven out of those low-altitude habitable areas, death awaits you. If you resist, you will still die.
Alternatively, you could try to defeat Wu Zifu and his Sixth Division; perhaps the Living Buddha could truly unleash his divine power?
Chapter 169 The Mighty Army of the Western Regions
"Hmph, he can kill, but I can't? What kind of logic is that?"
"This nun, if monks can sleep, why can't I, a Taoist priest, sleep?"
"It's not fair, it's so unfair!"
Inside the Dihua headquarters, Wang Dingyun's furious roar filled the entire headquarters. He angrily raised the original telegram that had been urgently sent from the southwest, wanting to tear it to shreds, but after holding it for a long time, he put it down lightly.
After all, who would dare to publicly tear up the original telegram signed by Zhao Yan?
In the telegram, Zhao Yan rebuked Wang Dingyun for the serious international repercussions of his killings in the Northwest, and demanded that Wang Dingyun learn to be sensible and intelligent, and to learn from the actions of his senior brother Wu Zifu.
After reading the telegram, Wang Dingyun was immediately furious. His master's reprimand was nothing; among his fellow disciples, who hadn't been scolded like a grandson by Zhao Yan?
But Zhao Yan told him to learn from Wu Zifu, complaining that he wasn't smart enough or sensible enough. This made Wang Dingyun completely lose his temper. What kind of biased master was this?
Wu Zifu slaughtered countless people on the western Tibetan plateau, and Zhao Yan didn't utter a single word. But Wang Dingyun had only been wreaking havoc in the Northwest for less than three months when Zhao Yan sent a telegram to curse him. This was far too biased.
"Representative, although the Führer expressed dissatisfaction in this telegram, it is only out of deep concern that he is being critical. Please calm down."
Major General Zhou Yongquan, commander of the Fifth Army Group, tried his best to persuade Wang Dingyun not to act rashly. He said that the most taboo thing for a general to do when leading troops in battle is to be suspected by the central government.
"Calm down? How can I calm down? Why is Master so biased? What have I, Wang Dingyun, done wrong?"
“At least he served as a member of the Southern Committee of the Supreme Governing Council. I, Wang Dingyun, have always worked diligently and have only ever been a military representative. I climbed all the way from a regimental representative to a party representative of an army group, without ever having a military rank.”
"Even Zhao Hao and Qiu Xingxun are now brigadier generals, so where did I go wrong?"
“When Wu Zifu pacified the south, I was guarding the southwest. Before the war was over, I began an expedition to the Western Regions, enduring wind and rain, sleeping in the open and drinking rain and snow all the way. How am I any worse than Wu Zifu?”
Wang Dingyun still couldn't understand it. According to his age, he was twenty-eight years old this year, five years older than Wu Zifu, so the position of senior brother should have been his.
But Wu Zifu was the first to call Zhao Yan "Teacher," and he became the senior brother. From then on, Wang Dingyun could never catch up with Wu Zifu.
At his peak, Wu Zifu was a special Southern Committee member of the Supreme Governing Council, which controlled the military and political affairs of Jiangnan and was based in Nanjing. Even though this position was abolished after the war, his influence remained.
Wang Dingyun started as a party representative in the army and has worked his way up to the position of party representative of an army group and commander of the Northwest Suppression Commissioner. He has no rank or military title and has been drifting along in this ambiguous way.
But he did his best when it was time to put in the effort, and he worked tirelessly to solve problems. However, his teacher, Zhao Yan, felt that he was not as good as Wu Zifu.
Looking at Wang Dingyun's behavior, Zhou Yongquan sighed inwardly. Wang Dingyun's attitude was typical of someone who was getting stuck on a rut.
Wang Dingyun was thinking about his master's favoritism, but he didn't realize that his own father was the Minister of National Defense and a member of the Supreme Executive Committee, the real top dog in the military. How could Zhao Yan possibly continue to give him more responsibilities?
By then, if both father and son are high-ranking military officials or hold positions spanning both the military and political spheres, will others even have a chance? Your Wang family is already at its peak, almost too prosperous, and there's no way you, Wang Dingyun, will be able to advance any further.
Unless Wang Chongshan steps down, Wang Dingyun has no chance of climbing up to the core of power.
Zhou Yongquan came from the Wang family and was specially arranged by Wang Chongshan to come to the Northwest to help Wang Dingyun. The Wang family already had a strong influence in the army.
Putting aside everything else, how much power does it take for a bigwig who is actually a major general and a group army commander to pave the way for his son?
Sixty percent of the core members of the National Defense Army were derived from Wang Chongshan's original First Division. Old Wang was the oldest among the veterans in the army, while young Wang was a veteran of the Revival Party!
Currently, many of the military and political officials within the central government who are criticizing and targeting the Wang family are not extremists, nor are they Wu Zifu's people. They are simply using the name of Wu Zifu's faction to target the Wang family, not for any other reason than because the Wang family's power is too dangerous.
“Representative, you are still young and have plenty of time. What you need most now is to persevere. Remember, the moon wanes when it is full and water overflows when it is full!” Zhou Yongquan didn’t care about anything else. He was originally the captain of Wang Chongshan’s personal guard and had been a staunch member of the Wang family since the Qing Dynasty.
Zhou Yongquan put it bluntly: "Young Master, the Wang family is now at the height of its power, so you'd better be careful!"
Wang Dingyun's temper flared even more: "In the military, we address people by their rank! Who gave you the right to call me 'Young Master'? Do you think you're some servant of the Wang family? You're a Major General Commander in the National Defense Force now!"
"If you dare to utter such words again, I will immediately report to the central government and have you removed from your position as army commander!"
Wang Dingyun was very disgusted by some of his father's actions. He calmed himself down, regained his composure, and sat down at the table.
“I don’t care about those petty people’s slanderous rumors, and my master will not listen to them either. If he thinks I’m lacking something, then it must be because I haven’t done something right, not because of so-called suspicion!”
"There has never been any suspicion between my fellow disciples and our master, so I must have done something wrong!"
Wang Dingyun simply did not believe that his master Zhao Yan would suspect him. The Wang family was the Wang family, and he, Wang Dingyun, was Wang Dingyun. Master and disciple came first, and then family.
Of the more than 30 party members who were founded in Shanghai, 25 are still alive. Each of them calls Zhao Yan "Master." When Zhao Yan is ready to risk everything, he will entrust his back to his disciples without any hesitation.
The disciples always trusted and relied on Zhao Yan, believing that their master would not harm them, and that their master would never worry about his disciples betraying him.
In Chinese culture, betraying one's master and ancestors is one of the most unforgivable crimes. Similarly, a master harming his disciple is also a taboo crime that loses the hearts of the people.
Zhao Yan dared to entrust his apprentice with the power of regent at a critical moment, so how could he possibly be wary of the so-called excessive power of the royal family? That's a joke. So what if the entire royal family is full of generals? Do they have the guts to overthrow Zhao Yan?
Furthermore, Wang Dingyun was well aware of his father Wang Chongshan's abilities and courage. Wang Chongshan was just an obedient general who learned whatever the leader did and did whatever the leader said. He was someone who had some brains but didn't know how to use them, and needed Zhao Yan to guide him at all times.
After ruling out all the impossibilities, Wang Dingyun picked up the telegram again to search for the only possibility.
"Not smart, immature? International impact?"
"Ah! I understand now, I get it!"
"So that's how it is! We were so focused on killing that we forgot we needed a legitimate reason to do it!"
Wang Dingyun slapped his forehead and stood up excitedly. It turned out that his master hadn't been biased after all; he had really made a mistake.
No matter how much bloodshed Wu Zifu caused in the Tibetan Plateau, it was all done behind closed doors, with little information leaking out. Moreover, Tibetan Buddhism and the local nobility didn't have much influence abroad, and many people didn't even know that people lived on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau!
But Xinjiang is different; it borders Central Asia and Russia and is predominantly Muslim.
This time, Wang Dingyun's suppression of the rebellion in Xinjiang specifically targeted and killed these Muslims. He killed wherever he went, from Shaanxi, Gansu, and Ningxia all the way to Dihua, and the people of Northwest China were outraged by the killings.
Given the terrain of the Northwest, if they can't afford to offend them, can't they at least avoid them? They simply fled abroad, taking a lot of information with them.
Zhao Yan is now considered an enemy of God in the Middle East and Central Asia, and has become a mortal enemy of all Muslims.
The news of Zhao Yan's army massacring Green Green Christians even prompted the Ottoman Empire to send an official representative to Beijing. When the Ottoman envoy met with Zhao Yan, he severely reprimanded him.
Zhao Yan was just sitting at home when trouble fell from the sky. He inexplicably became an enemy of the Islamic world, a butcher of Muslims, and an executioner of the Muslim world.
How could Zhao Yan not be furious? Your senior brother at least fought the proletarian revolution, raised the banner of abolishing slavery, and only wielded the butcher's knife in the end, thus firmly standing on the moral high ground.
Wu Zifu's killings align with Zhao Yan's advocacy of exporting Chinese values of freedom and human rights. Even if Western countries knew about it, they wouldn't dare to say anything. Abolishing slavery is a universally recognized legal act.
But Wang Dingyun got carried away with the killing and ignored all of that. Even more outrageous, he hung Lv Lv's body on a cross and specifically targeted Lv Lv to kill. This was blatant genocide and religious discrimination.
Zhao Yan was already quite subtle in his letter; if it were anyone else, he would have punished them swiftly. To turn a purge and suppression into this mess is incredibly unwise and incompetent.
Zhao Yan's face was slapped so hard it was swollen. He had just proposed China's values of upholding freedom and human rights at a press conference in Beijing, but his disciple Wang Dingyun was playing the game of religious unfreedom and massacre of foreigners in the Northwest. Isn't that a slap in the face?
The Russians were all mocking Zhao Yan. Even the Tsar wrote a letter saying that he was a more benevolent ruler than Zhao Yan. Although Europeans disliked Muslims and secretly enjoyed Zhao Yan's massacre of Muslims, they still criticized him for going back on his word.
The Ottoman Empire even threatened to intervene militarily, as it could not tolerate such blatant hostility towards the Islamic world.
Thus, China, the country that first proposed the international values of freedom and human rights, was almost branded as the first anti-freedom and anti-human rights, anti-humanity country.
No matter what Wang Dingyun did, Zhao Yan always ended up taking the blame.
"So it was me who smeared Master's reputation, no wonder!"
"Since open killing doesn't work, let's do it covertly. Why don't I just kill people in the name of human rights and freedom?"
Wang Dingyun truly lived up to his reputation as a strong contender for the second generation of the Revival Party. He was incredibly intelligent. He had just been scolded by his master in a letter, but he immediately understood everything and began to devise a plan.
"Hey, all you guys with stars on your shoulders, come over here for a meeting!"
Wang Ting-yun's actions are consistent with the Revival Party's style: decisive and quick to implement decisions.
All officers of the rank of major and above from the various units of the Fifth Army Group stationed in Dihua were summoned for a meeting.
At the meeting, Wang Dingyun made a series of changes and decisions, and issued various rectification measures in accordance with the rights of a Party representative.
From this day forward, the Fifth Army Group must uphold the banner of human rights and freedom, take China's new era imperialist values as its core, and carry out a new campaign of suppression against the Northwest region.
Those who deserve to be killed will still be killed, but the methods can no longer be as brutal and direct as before. There must be a legitimate reason, and the methods must conform to the values of freedom and human rights.