Chapter 3 Chapter 3 Studying in Japan

Chiang Kai-shek has shown his lifelong character since he was a child-"repeatedly caught in adversity", but he can always try to get out of adversity. What is the secret of Chiang Kai-shek’s success——Chiang Kai-shek’s benefactor Nagaoka Gaishi believes that it is loyalty and repayment that are the secrets of Chiang Kai-shek’s success. Chiang Kai-shek's father was born in a farming family for generations, and his mother was a devout Buddhist woman. However, this generation of farming family began to change careers in the generation of Chiang Kai-shek's father, Jiang Su'an-he became a salt merchant.

In the later years, Chiang Kai-shek gradually believed that he was a descendant of a doctor in the Zhou Dynasty, and took great pains to prove this. Villagers in Xikou often consulted with Jiang Su'an because he was well-informed and thought to be intelligent.Chiang Kai-shek's mother was Jiang Su'an's third wife, but she seemed to treat the children left by Chiang's ex-wife equally, and gave them mother-like care. Two years after she married into the Chiang family, Chiang Kai-shek was born.It is said that he is lively and mischievous by nature, but he is weak and sick. He has shown his lifelong character since he was a child-he has been in adversity repeatedly, but he can always manage to escape from adversity.

It is said that he only inserted a pair of chopsticks into his throat once in three years old, to see how deep the pestle could go, he found that it was not difficult to get the pestle in, but it was not so easy to pull it out. "Did you break your throat?" Grandpa asked him anxiously and heartbroken when he found out. "It's okay, can't I still talk well, I'm not dumb." He jumped up from the bed and shouted at his grandfather. Two years later, in the winter of 1892, the young Chiang Kai-shek jumped into a large water tank as tall as a man, which the Chinese usually put under the eaves to hold water.The ice cubes in the tank aroused his curiosity, and he saw his own image in it, so he jumped into it.This time, his brothers were not around, so he was completely soaked and frozen, and he swallowed a stomach full of ice water, and it took a lot of effort to get out.

There was a swift mountain stream flowing in front of his house, and he would often jump into it to take a bath, and sometimes he would never return ("Xikou" - the place where he was born - means "the outlet of the brook". Here it is also called " Wuling", and it also has a poetic name called "Jinxi").The traditional Chinese education system has always neglected sports, but for Chiang Kai-shek, because he often swam in the streams in the village and went out to climb mountains, he quickly got rid of his weak and sick physique since he was a child, and became physically strong. He kept it until his old age during his long life.

His favorite entertainment is playing war games. Like General de Gaulle when he was a child, he always acts as the "commander in chief".It is said that he often stood on a high ground, admonishing his friends or telling them the old ways, so that he developed the habit of speaking in public very early.It was this precocious oratorical basis that he later often delivered endless speeches. At that time, most of the issues discussed by Xikou people focused on the turmoil in China. When Chiang Kai-shek was seven years old, China was defeated by Japan. The Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895 forced China to cede Taiwan and the Penghu Islands.

Chiang Kai-shek can often hear people around him talking about this new humiliation brought by the Qing Dynasty (this is the same as Franco, who later became a general. The shame of being crushed in battle).This kind of talking may not create a national leader by itself, but it can certainly affect a person's will. Even the rulers of the Qing Dynasty realized the need for change at this time.The hapless Emperor Guangxu launched the "Hundred Days Reform" (June-September 1898) under the guidance of the radical reformer Kang Youwei, which made him offend the bureaucracy and the feared Queen Mother before he could get rid of it. After the matter was over, the Empress Dowager imprisoned him.

After the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War, Zhang Zhidong, the enlightened governor of Liangjiang, wrote an explosive pamphlet, Encouraging Learning, which unexpectedly sold a million copies. Shame like Turkey, don't forget to be as innovative as Japan.China in East Asia was indeed the same as Turkey in the east of Europe - a sick man. In Xikou, literate people not only read Encouraging Learning for themselves, but also read it to illiterate people.Seeing the looting of the great powers one after another, the Boxer Rebellion became the Chinese people's desperate answer to the situation they faced.

All these are of little significance to Chiang Kai-shek, he may just recall these past events intentionally or unintentionally in the years to come.Because he was mischievous and often caused trouble, his mother was very frightened, thinking that he should get acquainted with the rules of the outside world. After obtaining the consent of her husband and father-in-law, she hired a tutor for Chiang Kai-shek, who was only four years old.There are mixed accounts of his academic abilities, but his progress appears to have been slow as he often skipped school to play war games.Fortunately, under normal circumstances at that time, four years old was not the age to study hard.Even so, he still finished reading the legally mandated four classics of Confucius when he was less than nine years old: The Great Learning, The Doctrine of the Mean by Confucius himself, and Mencius by his follower Mencius. All aspiring young people have to be able to read and recite sentences when they don't quite understand the meaning between the lines.

From the age of nine to sixteen, Chiang Kai-shek also studied the "Five Classics": "Poetry", "Book of Changes", "Li" and "Spring and Autumn". In 1895, when Chiang Kai-shek was eight years old, his father died, and he was raised by his mother and grandfather.Later Chiang Kai-shek praised them both.Since he rarely left biographical materials for the world, it is necessary to quote a passage about his mother from a speech he gave on October 30, 1936, his "fiftieth" birthday (according to the Chinese The algorithm, the year of birth is already one year old) published to the whole country.He said:

"...The memory of my late mother is indelible. She worked hard to educate and feed me as an orphan. Now, her mausoleum is overgrown with vegetation. I can't help feeling that nothing has been accomplished. I have failed her old man's hopes for me. .” According to him, during those days, his family was in a difficult situation, and his mother controlled him with strict rules like iron.As long as she feels that he has not met the strict standards she requires, she will not hesitate to beat him.She believed that the work of a servant was good for his character, so she made him dry-clean dishes and mop the floor every day.

Chiang Kai-shek once said with emotion to him that the Qing regime was in the most corrupt state at that time.Corrupt corrupt officials and depraved dignitaries have become accustomed to oppressing the common people.My family had neither backing nor power, and soon became the target of their bullying.Exorbitant taxes and servitude fall upon us from time to time.Once, they bullied us in public in front of the village office. I deeply regret and feel sad that all the relatives and friends present saw it and were indifferent.My family was miserable at that time, indeed it is indescribable.Our family was saved from bankruptcy only because of my mother and her kindness and perseverance. There is a biography of Chiang Kai-shek that describes this bitter memory of Chiang Kai-shek more clearly: a villager in Xikou fled because he could not afford the grain ancestors. He got up, dragged him to the village office, and threatened to send him to prison if he couldn't pay the rent owed by the fleeing villager. was let out.But this time, the unjust injustice and humiliation that Jiang's mother and her son suffered in the name of "the emperor" were a heavy blow to both of them. Later, Chiang Kai-shek often referred to this event as "the first spark that ignited the fire of my revolution." In 1901, when Chiang Kai-shek was fourteen years old, his elders decided to arrange a marriage for him, letting him marry a girl three years older than him——Mao Fumei.Had Chiang Kai-shek inherited his father's salt business, the marriage would have been successful, but within a few years, rumors of his prowling in Tokyo had spread in his hometown. When Chiang Kai-shek was seventeen years old, he studied under a man named Gu Qinglian. This man ran a literary museum with a strange name in Fenghua Town, which collected many collections of classics and history.One of these books is probably far more important than any of the others, and that is the earliest and most famous military work in China, The Art of War by Sun Tzu (it turned out that he was far less concerned with the substance of this book than he was. opponent Mao Zedong has a solid grasp).Also in the museum are works by Zeng Guofan, the Governor-General who suppressed the Taiping Rebellion, and Wang Yangming, a famous scholar in Chinese history whom Chiang Kai-shek admired deeply. Wang Yangming was a scholar and statesman in the Ming Dynasty.Later, when Chiang Kai-shek was exiled to Taiwan, he renamed a grass mountain as Yangming Mountain to show his memory. Chiang Kai-shek benefited greatly from Gu Qinglian's education, and he was drawn to a more orthodox school of Confucianism—the Confucian school headed by Song Dynasty Zhu Xi.The school's creed is "preserving the principles of nature and curbing human desires", advocating self-cultivation and self-discipline.Later, the reason why Chiang Kai-shek often went to Mount Lushan to hold meetings and hold training classes was because that was where Zhu Xi often gave lectures. Even more crucial to the young Chiang Kai-shek, his teacher told him everything he knew about Sun Yat-sen and the impending revolution. After the private school was full of teachers, Chiang Kai-shek went to a school in this town—— Longjin Middle School, but he only stayed there for three months before suddenly deciding to go to Tokyo to study military affairs. The biographies of Chiang Kai-shek all record a quirk of him during this period: he got up very early every day, and after getting up, he stood upright on the balcony in front of the bedroom for half an hour, with his lips tightly closed, Fold your arms close to your chest. Biographers have wondered what was going on in his head at this moment.Judging from his actions not long after, he was full of a new yearning and his heart was surging at that time. He threw his pen into the army because he felt the need to do something, to take risks, to fight for the chance to serve his country.He chose Tokyo as the place to start his studies because the capital of Japan was recognized as the center of military art in the world at that time. What is even more attractive is that in Tokyo he is most likely to get acquainted with Chinese revolutionaries living in the East. In 1905, Chiang Kai-shek made up his mind to go east to study.This year, Japan was still fighting with Tsarist Russia, and his relatives and friends tried their best to persuade him to give up this silly idea.But he is a person who has made up his mind and will not change it easily.Instead of arguing with them, he took a pair of scissors and snapped off the braids at the back of his head, which he thought would surprise the people who hung around him all day long.As he guessed, his trick really worked. At that time, as long as any young man cut his braid, he would be turned away by others. He can only go far away, the farther away from his hometown the better.His mother never pampered and raised her children, and she could think about it herself, so she raised a sum of money for his travel expenses. In May 1905, Chiang Kai-shek traveled eastward to Japan by boat, but this first eastward journey was a bit anticlimactic.The Imperial Military Academy had no room for revolutionaries and refused to admit them.These schools have an agreement with China's Military Aircraft Department: only those students from China who are recommended by the Qing government are allowed to enroll.Nevertheless, the trip was not in vain for Chiang Kai-shek, for it was at that time in Tokyo that he met Chen Qimei, who would become his revolutionary mentor and friend - often regarded as Sun Yat-sen's most talented early follower By.Seeing that Chiang Kai-shek would have to return to China soon, he went to learn Japanese. But his mother felt that since he failed to study in Tokyo, he should not stay there, so she pretended that there was an unavoidable event in the family—the marriage of her sister—as an excuse to urge him to go home.After all, he was a dutiful son, and he returned to his hometown in the winter of that year. In 1908, however, something more important happened to the Chiang family.Chiang Kai-shek's eldest son, Chiang Ching-kuo, was born.This is Mao Fumei's great dedication to the Jiang family.At the beginning, her life with Chiang Kai-shek was not going well. Her mother-in-law was harsh and wordy, always asking her to be submissive, respectful and obedient. Official biographers all praised Mao Fumei's generous character, but she herself often revealed it to her friends. , she actually lived a life of fear of her husband's rough character and of the constant beatings she had received. Chiang Kai-shek began to receive military education, but in China, not in Japan. In 1906, despite being ill for some time, he passed the highly competitive examinations and was admitted to the Baoding Military Academy. There were more than 1,000 applicants in Zhejiang, but only 60 people passed the exam, and he was one of the 60 people.But there are two things against him: he is Han Chinese and not Manchu; and he has short hair, in pre-revolutionary China; this may be considered a contempt for imperial traditions, leading to suspicion of rebellion - considered A person with dangerous thoughts. Most of the teachers in the school are Japanese.Since their country had just defeated the tsarist army and achieved a brilliant victory, and earlier defeated the Chinese army, they all looked arrogant and made no secret of their contempt for the Chinese. Once in a health class, the Japanese teacher took out a clod and compared it to China. Seeing the puzzled expressions on the faces of the students, the teacher explained: "There are 400 million people in China, and they That clod in your hand contains exactly 400 million microbes." Seeing this, Chiang Kai-shek suddenly felt angry. Regardless of military discipline, he stepped forward, broke the clod into eight pieces of about the same size, glared at the teacher and asked: "There are 50 million people in Japan. Is it also like 50 million microorganisms, parasitic in one-eighth of this soil?" The teacher was left speechless by the question, but after a while, he pointed to Chiang Kai-shek's head with the braid cut off and threatened him: "You are a revolutionary!" Chiang is said to have replied: "Answer what I said first, please don't divert the question," In military schools, students are not allowed to do this.For Chiang Kai-shek, he took a big risk.He might be kicked out of the military academy for it; he might also be secretly arrested. He was summoned to the headmaster's office, and luckily the headmaster thought he had his own reasons for what he did, so he just gave him a stern reprimand and didn't get to the bottom of it, and the matter was over. At the end of the year, Chiang Kai-shek was one of a limited number of students selected to be sent to Japan to study military affairs.He knew Japanese, which came in handy in the selection process. In the spring of 1907, he enrolled in Tokyo Zhenwu Academy. During this period, his classmates felt that although he was polite to others, he was very cold. He didn't care much about the friendship among classmates, and often expressed indifference to the friendship of others, which made him not very popular. His classmates thought he was arrogant.But he was an exception for one person, that is Zhang Qun - he was Chiang Kai-shek's classmate at the time and won Chiang Kai-shek's lifelong trust.Apart from Madame Chiang and Chiang Ching-wai, Zhang Qun is Chiang Kai-shek's closest confidant. The study life at that time was more difficult than he could imagine, even more difficult than he suffered when his mother was widowed.The three meals a day were very simple: each meal consisted of a bowl of rice, a few small pieces of fish and a small plate of radish, and he forced himself to make do with what he got. All my life. Every long summer vacation, Chiang Kai-shek always has to travel thousands of miles home to visit his mother (seeing his wife is secondary), but every time he always stops in Shanghai to visit the revolutionaries there and help them recruit personnel and raise funds .He had not yet joined any revolutionary organization, although his hygiene teacher had had vague suspicions about him. Later in Tokyo, Chen Qimei introduced him to the League.When Chiang Kai-shek first participated in the meeting of the Tongmenghui, Sun Yat-sen delivered a speech at the meeting.After the meeting, Chen Qimei introduced Chiang Kai-shek to Sun Yat-sen. Regarding this "historic" meeting that was later described in a big book, there are neither written records nor video and audio materials.According to speculative biographers, Sun Yat-sen was deeply impressed by this passionate young man.Sun Yat-sen said to Chen Qimei: "This man will be the backbone of the revolution, the man our revolutionary movement needs. Looking back now, the latter part of this sentence is more appropriate than the first part. Unless Sun Yat-sen was a rash person, he would not have said this to Chen Qimei, because Chen Qimei had reason to think that if the revolution really needed a backbone If so, then this role must belong to him and Chen Qimei. Whether or not Chiang Kai-shek had impressed Sun Yat-sen in his first meeting, the meeting between the two actually happened.Chiang Kai-shek at that time was an enthusiastic young man eager to find a leader. Now that he has finally found a leader, this is the climax of Sun Yat-sen's activities and the most attractive time for the revolution, and he feels ecstatic. At that time, Chinese citizens did not need to go through any formalities to enter Japan, no matter what ethnicity they belonged to or what their political beliefs were, and they did not need a passport or registration. However, if the Qing court officials pointed out to Japan that a certain unscrupulous person was going to Japan or was already there, Japan would prohibit this person from entering.If they are already in Japan, they will also be expelled to meet the requirements of the Qing court. For Sun Yat-sen, the Qing court just made such a request to Japan, probably shortly after the meeting with Sun Yat-sen.There is no doubt that Sun has cultivated a large number of revolutionary followers in Japan.He was kicked out from Shanghai in the past, and now Tokyo can't stay anymore, so he moved the revolutionary headquarters to Hong Kong. When Chiang Kai-shek was still studying in the military academy, Sun Yat-sen made no less than seven revolutionary attempts in various parts of South China in less than two years, but they all failed, many of his followers were beheaded, and the rule of the Qing Dynasty remained as before. Chiang Kai-shek always offered to contribute to the revolution every time, but was rejected every time due to long-term considerations. Sun Yat-sen said that the greatest contribution he could make to the revolution and China was to complete his military studies. 1909. At the end of November, Chiang Kai-shek graduated from the military academy, and the next step was to go to a formal military university, but before that, the military academy cadets had to experience the life of the lowest-level military personnel to see if they could stand the test of such a difficult life . On a cold morning in January 1910, Chiang Kai-shek stood in front of Colonel Ribong, the captain of the 19th Field Artillery Regiment stationed in Takata, stood at attention with a "snap", and saluted. "Nagaoka Gaishi, he is in command of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army, and the regiment of Nihon Bong Dazuo belongs to this division. Throughout the winter, Chiang Kai-shek got up three hours before dawn every day. The first thing he did was to feed his horse and then go to morning exercises. He was outdoors all day, and Japanese soldiers usually had to do slave-like hard work at night. Later Chiang Kai-shek said nothing about his life in Japan in the past few years.These jobs are strictly regulated and must be done. He hardly has time to socialize with his Chinese classmates, but once he chats with them, he always says something like "Going to the battlefield is much more difficult than this, and no one can bear it." Things, get used to it, and so on. Strangely, Chiang Kai-shek does not seem to have impressed his Japanese officers.They never imagined what great things he would accomplish.A few years later, in 1929, Chiang Kai-shek was already famous. Nagaoka Gaishi thought hard and tried to find the secret of Jiang's success. He wrote an article and recalled: In Tokyo in 1927, he invited Jiang and Nihon Bong to have tea together.As usual, Jiang dressed neatly, "like a handsome movie star", and was a little too polite. When he said goodbye, Jiang presented Nagaoka with a banner with the words "Live up to the teacher".Nagaoka Waishi believes that it is loyalty and repayment that are the secrets of Chiang Kai-shek's success. When the news of the Wuchang Uprising reached Chiang Kai-shek's ears, he decided to temporarily abandon his military studies in Japan and immediately go back to join the revolution.Since then, especially after participating in the Battle of Hangzhou, Chiang Kai-shek's personal experience has begun to integrate with China's modern history. At first he was unremarkable, but later he became a figure of great importance. KMT historians all called Chiang Kai-shek's subordinates "death squads".Before leading his men to successfully attack the Zhejiang Governor's Yamen, he wrote a letter to his mother, in which he earnestly hoped that his mother would "forgive her son for his unfilial piety".Then he said how much he wished he could do something good, and would be willing to die in battle.It can be seen from his mother's reply that she is indeed a strong mother worthy of the name.In her reply letter to her son, she said: "Dedication or not is determined by your career. Don't worry about family matters." The victory of the battle was over, although for a young man, his role was very limited compared with the whole cause of much greater importance - and the victory of this battle could at best be regarded as a part of the whole Hangzhou uprising, but everyone Think he's doing pretty well.Later, a general wrote a short book "Zhejiang Independent Documentary", which featured Chiang Kai-shek as a hero.As a token of respect, he dedicated a copy to Chiang Kai-shek, with a letter attached to the book.In Confucian fashion, Chiang Kai-shek wrote back that he had received the award for nothing, and that he deserved it, and hoped that when the book was republished, the author would also do justice to the other men who participated in the battle not mentioned in the book. A biography of Chiang Kai-shek records this correspondence but does not date it.However, it can be deduced that this may have occurred in August 1912.It is this month.The National Party was formed.It was also this month that Yuan Shikai sent someone to assassinate a general of the Republic of China. These events reflect the state of the revolutionary movement: the Qing government was overthrown, but the result of this change was just another Qing official who had no interest in Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary program - the Three People's Principles, if so, So what's the point of this change?Chiang Kai-shek felt disillusioned, and he was unwilling to seek a job under Yuan Shikai's command.It was in that month, August 1912, that he decided to return to Tokyo to continue his military studies. While studying, he worked as an editor for the magazine "Military Voice", which was often written by himself.His first military and political work was in 1912—— Written during this time in 1913.He wrote an article in the inaugural issue of "Military Voice" magazine, yearning for a world of Datong, in which all races live in harmony, only the police are needed to maintain order, and there is no war, so there is no need for the army.He analyzed the situation in Tibet and Mongolia more realistically, and pointed out that Russia and Japan are the most likely enemies of China. He ruled out the possibility that China could withstand the Russian attack, and pointed out that in fact, no matter where the aggression came from, China would not be able to withstand it. One blow, and clamored for the establishment of a regular army of at least 600,000 people to defend the country. Considering the size of China and the huge population at the time, this was a relatively small force, but it would also cost half to two-thirds of China's national income. He also strongly criticized the system of concentrating military and civil power in the hands of a provincial governor. He wrote: If this system does not change, China will one day become a loose platter of many independent kingdoms, so , military power must be in the hands of the central government. Chiang Kai-shek was twenty-five or six years old when he published this mad theory. In the 1920s and 1930s, de Gaulle also published some articles and books on French defense issues, which caused controversy.From this point of view, Chiang Kai-shek was ten years younger than de Gaulle when he published similar articles. It is not recorded whether Chiang Kai-shek's article aroused a similar debate, although people were equally fond of controversy at the time.However, he was still very young and not very well-known at the time, and the article was written in a foreign capital. At that time in the Far East, any young man who wanted to engage in military life to learn military affairs would first think of Japan, and then it would be the turn of another military power, Germany.While Chiang Kai-shek was planning to go to Germany to continue his military studies, Sun Yat-sen launched the "Second Revolution" to overthrow Yuan Shikai.Chiang Kai-shek immediately rushed to Shanghai to join Chen Qimei and served as Chen's chief of staff. On July 23, 1913, according to the plan in advance, Chen Qimei declared the independence of Shanghai, but this time, as before, the revolutionaries acted quickly and failed quickly.The manufacturing bureau they attacked was heavily defended, and Chiang Kai-shek was captured by a sentry during the battle, but he managed to escape. Chiang Kai-shek failed, but he did not fall out of favor, and in Sun Yat-sen's eyes, he even became stronger.It seems inappropriate to say that Sun Yat-sen was a successful revolutionary leader, but Chiang Kai-shek admired him for his courage in the face of adversity. The Queen's biographer therefore believes that their close friendship began at this time. After the failure of this revolution, they both went to Japan to seek asylum (the arrival of Dr. Sun was not prohibited in Japan). Their party was outlawed by the perfidious Yuan Shih-kai, and the Kuomintang leaders watched as their Republic fell apart after excruciating setbacks.It is true that the impact and impact of their revolution has spread across the country, but the reports from most areas have been dismal. The situation in the south was particularly dire.Chen Qimei believed that the south was more affected by the revolution, but the real targets of the revolution should be Beijing and the north.Dr. Sun thought he was right, so he sent him to Dalian, where he spent six months conducting field investigations, but found nothing. Reality is merciless.In the struggle between the Kuomintang and Yuan Shikai, the Kuomintang was slightly superior in every aspect.But their organization is lax, their intelligence is unreliable, and their security and defense are full of loopholes.Chiang Kai-shek discovered these problems early on, and in the spring of 1914 he became aware of them again.This year he was sent to Shanghai on a mission to organize an insurrection there. He had a well-planned plan, but his method was a little lacking. He planned to seize all the important strategic points around the city and near the coast as soon as he started. point.But Shanghai's guardian envoy is old and cunning. He encountered and dealt with similar problems a year ago.His security was so effective that on May 30 he sent the police to raid and search Chiang's headquarters, and troops and police surrounded the home of a friend whom Chiang Kai-shek was planning to visit. Jiang was almost arrested.When he saw a group of people surrounding him from a distance, he ran away quickly. In June, Dr. Sun sent him and another colleague to Heilongjiang Province to investigate a report by a Kuomintang member planted there that the conditions were ripe for an uprising.Chiang Kai-shek, who stuttered about official Beijing work and lacked knowledge of the conditions there, was not the right man to do.But after investigating some places, Chiang Kai-shek reported that the possibility of success of an uprising there could be exactly equal to zero.It was only later that I found out that the Kuomintang member who made the optimistic report originally wanted to wait for funds to fill his own pockets.Such examples are numerous in the history of the Kuomintang's rule of the mainland. Looks like we'll have to wait a long time again.Chiang Kai-shek returned to Tokyo and began to study Chinese philosophy and military works all day long, and began to write down the wrong things he did during the day in his diary every night. Since he didn't have much to do at the time, one suspects he didn't have much to write in his diary.But the habit of keeping a diary had taken hold of him.He kept this habit until his death. Yet revolutionary action did not disappear. In the summer of 1915, Chiang Kai-shek ushered in the so-called "third revolution".As with the previous two, the results this time were still lackluster. For the first time—but not the last—Chiang Kai-shek planned an assassination, following Yuan Shikai's usual tactic.Because the defenders of Shanghai had twice thwarted Chiang Kai-shek's attempts to take the city, Chiang had to kill him this time.So the two Kuomintang assassins—one was a sharpshooter and the other was carrying a bomb—found the target of the assassination on the 11th and 10th, but they turned themselves in at the critical moment. On December 5, the original plan to aid the siege by sea fell through, and the revolutionary headquarters in the French Concession was also destroyed by French patrols. Chiang Kai-shek escaped by climbing to another building. The defeat hit Jiang hard, and perhaps from a nervous breakdown, or from a psychosomatic illness—a physical illness of psycho-emotional origin—he became bedridden.He was still hiding in Shanghai, and when his mother heard the news, she made the long journey to nurse him and restore him to health. There is no record of what Chiang Kai-shek's mother thought of the life her son was leading at that time. It is understandable that Chiang Kai-shek's official biographer seems to cherish pen and ink too much when describing the details of Chiang's stay in Shanghai. Chen Qimei, Jiang's friend, was Chiang's "mentor and friend" in other matters besides being Chiang's good teacher and helpful friend in terms of revolution.He often visited brothels, and Chiang Kai-shek went with him every time. In 1912, at a dinner party, Chiang Kai-shek flirted with a girl named Yao Yicheng, who was a maid for a famous prostitute, and the eyes of both parties were very hot.Soon she became his mistress, and Chiang Kai-shek brought her back to his hometown.Yao herself had no children, and after Jiang Weiguo was brought back from Japan, she regarded him as her own (Jiang Weiguo was Chiang Kai-shek's illegitimate son when he was in Tokyo). Although Chiang Kai-shek was often wanted, he seemed to have a knack for escaping and could always escape Yuan Shikai's patrolling police.He was in Shanghai at the time among low society - a society ruled by the ruthless and notorious Qing Gang, the Chinese variant of the mafia.They controlled opium, brothels, extorted money, and lived a debauched life.In this lawless city, they are doing all kinds of dirty and outrageous things, whoever wants to oppose them, they can kill him if they want to.For the sake of brotherhood, they can resort to violence.It's an organized force that even the police might be ashamed of. If it is said that Chiang Kai-shek was protected by the gang forces in Shanghai, then what did he use to repay it?At that time, he was penniless, and there was no evidence to prove that he was in collusion with the gangsters and shared the stolen goods, but it is true that he and the gangsters jointly dealt with Yuan Shikai's police.When he was in trouble, the gang drew their swords to help him, and it was true.Although he sometimes went to the Shanghai Stock Exchange to live as a broker, but at that time he was often in danger. In Yuan Shikai's view, Chiang Kai-shek and Chen Qimei were thorns in his eyes, and they must be removed. In the spring of 1916, Chiang Kai-shek happened to create another trouble for Yuan Dukai: He occupied the Jiangyin fortress on the south bank of the Yangtze River between Shanghai and Nanjing. Later, his subordinates left one after another, leaving him alone to guard the fortress.This time Chiang Kai-shek suffered another defeat, but once again he escaped a part of.As in the past, funding is still pitifully small. One day, someone asked Chen Qimei to donate to the revolutionary organization, and Chen was moved.In fact, he should be more cautious. The person who made the donation was actually a spy who was a member of the Kuomintang and worked for Yuan Shikai. On May 18, 1916, Chen Qimei was shot dead on the way to the scheduled payment location. The death of Chen Qimei made Chiang Kai-shek deeply saddened. In his eulogy for his only close friend, Chiang Kai-shek burst into tears and cried: "Sad! From now on, where can I find someone who knows me and loves me like him?" ?!" This is his heartfelt cry, which is both emotionally sad and realistically sad.He looked up to the sky, who will inherit Chen's career?Could it be someone who has a gap with him who will replace him? With Chen Qimei's death, Chiang Kai-shek rose in the leadership and he became Dr. Sun's confidant.Less than three weeks after Chen was assassinated, Yuan Shikai, who was hated by the world, also died in despair. His dreams of a restoration of the monarchy were taken to the grave. At this time, Chiang Kai-shek was 29 years old, and his personality was fully mature. It is worth saying a few more words here. The "naughty boy" in Xikou has become an impulsive and adventurous adult.Brave to the point of recklessness, he often risked his life in horrific ways.But every time it was safe and sound. He's serious, doesn't have many friends but is loyal to them all.No matter from his every move, or from the education he received, he was a full-fledged Confucian, and even the fact that he later converted to Christianity did not affect him one bit.His political views are a mix of modern and conservative ideas: He believes that unless Confucian morality is preserved or restored.Modernization otherwise would be pointless. There are many contradictions in his character.他的谦逊由来已久，决不是装模作样作出来的，他终生反对别人过分赞扬自己，而且还不愿和他人开口谈论自己。 然而，对有助于他的统治且无庸置疑已在他的追随者中传布开来的对他的崇拜，他却并不采取行动加以阻上。伴随着言行举止的谦逊，他养成了一种极端的自矜之情，虽然他并设想到自己的志向和行为会有什么错，也没想到这些志向和抱负竟会与中国最大的利益背道而驰，以至于最后一切致命的失败给他带来了一场终身的耻辱。 他的领袖天赋是无可非议的，但良好的判断并不能说明一切，他对军事和战略的分析在地缘政治方面不无道理，但他对政治的领悟还远远不够，他主要是从军事上来理解权力，而一旦他靠操纵他人对自己的忠诚来行使权力时，他就将自己的那种对政治的理解如实地、毫不掩饰地付诸行动。最后，他也就无法理解权力赖以维持的社会和政治因素。 他最终失败的原因盖源于此。