Chapter 4 Chapter Four Turbulence and Betrayal

"Kill Sun Yat-sen and give a reward of 200,000 U.S. dollars." During this period of adversity, Chiang Kai-shek has always followed Sun Yat-sen and remained loyal. Sun Yat-sen finally recognized the people who had given him good advice before and had always supported him unwaveringly.None other than Chiang Kai-shek. From then on, Chiang Kai-shek began to flourish. Yuan Shikai's collusion with the Japanese harmed the nationalist revolution.Yuan Shikai had his moments of success, but he failed to restore the monarchy and effectively control all of China. Sun Yat-sen founded the smaller Kuomintang, and Sun Yat-sen himself was sometimes a wild dreamer.In the eyes of the Chinese, the concept of democracy is inconceivable, and some existing experiences of parliamentary democracy have gone astray.

The Qing Dynasty fell, but there was no product to replace it; China faced a long period of turmoil and constant foreign interference. Several rival regimes arose in China, one in Beijing and the other in Canton led by Sun Yat-sen. In July 1917, some people attempted to restore the rule of the Qing Dynasty, but it only lasted 11 days.In fact, none of these governments had real power, and almost all provinces were ruled by local warlords. The outcome of wars between warlords determines the size of their sphere of influence. From 1920 to 1926, China’s civil war continued. The two Northern Expeditions led by Chiang Kai-shek in 1926 and 1928 wiped out these warlords on the surface, but as long as there is a chance , They will make a comeback. These warlord rulers willfully and cruelly exploit the common people and collect money.They tried their best to increase exorbitant taxes, opened smoking halls and set up brothels.They forced farmers to grow opium in the fields, resulting in widespread famine in various regions. Merchants were also forced to pay tribute to warlords to avoid being publicly plundered.

During the ten years from 1916 to 1926, China was in a period of turmoil and the situation was chaotic. On May 3, 1917, the Beijing government illegally dissolved the parliament.In October of the same year, under the escort of the Navy's First Fleet, Sun Yat-sen returned to Guangzhou with two former ministers and 130 former members of Congress. Sun Yat-sen announced the establishment of the Nationalist Military Government, and he was elected Generalissimo.He solemnly pointed out that the "president" of Beijing is a traitor to the revolution.At this time, Sun Yat-sen was the same as before, unaware that another betrayal was imminent.A senior official in his new government is secretly colluding with the Beiyang government and has sent someone to assassinate the commander of the First Fleet.This traitor was Lu Rongting, a warlord of the Guangxi clique, who blatantly ignored and disobeyed Sun Yat-sen's orders.

On May 4, 1918, Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Republic, was forced to resign in desperation. The next three years were years of military melee and political melee.Chiang Kai-shek had taken up an important post in the Cantonese Army, which was led by General Chen Jiongming and ostensibly loyal to Sun Yat-sen. Since the Guangdong army is all Cantonese, and Chiang Kai-shek requires strict discipline, as a foreigner, he is not welcomed by officers and soldiers. Finally, Chiang announced his resignation and warned Sun Yat-sen that Chen Jiongming could not be trusted.However, Sun Yat-sen did not consider Chiang Kai-shek's opinion.Later facts proved that Chiang Kai-shek's judgment was well-founded.

Since Yuan Shikai's death.A series of shocking major events took place in the world. In November 1917, when the Bolsheviks won power in Russia, Sun Yat-sen, as a revolutionary, sent a congratulatory telegram to Lenin, another revolutionary. The following year, Germany lost World War I. Chinese nationalists can't wait to get back the lands and privileges granted to foreigners during the Qing Dynasty.President Wilson of the United States proposed at least three times to solve the post-war problems peacefully and justly. His famous "Fourteen Points Plan" (proposed on January 8, 1918) called for a just adjustment of colonial policy, taking into account the interests of the people.However, it must be admitted that his proposal is still too general for solving China's problems.

The focus of China's issue is the ownership of the Shandong Peninsula. In 1898, Germany forcibly occupied the Shandong Peninsula. During World War I, Japan also claimed sovereignty over the Shandong Peninsula. In May 1919, anti-Japanese sentiment in China reached its peak, and students in Beijing planned to use the "National Humiliation Day" to protest the "Twenty-One" signed with Japan in 1915 that forfeited power and humiliated the country. On May 4, students clashed with the police guarding the embassy area, leading to large-scale demonstrations.This is the famous "May 4th" movement.

On June 12, cabinet members of the Beiyang government were forced to take the blame and resign. On June 28, the Chinese representatives attending the Versailles Conference refused to sign the Versailles Peace Treaty without any instructions.The deputies did not receive instructions from the government until July 10, but the refusal to sign was a fact.Countries around the world suddenly noticed that the policy towards the Far East was unjust, and President Wilson was attacked at home because of the China problem. At this time, the Bolshevik government in Russia had been established. In July 1919, Garakhan, Deputy Commissioner of People's Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union, announced the "First Declaration to China", which was welcomed by the Chinese people.It stated that the Soviet Russian government would return all the Chinese territories occupied by the tsarist era to China, and the Middle East Railway would also be returned to China. , and there is only one condition in exchange for all these: the Beiyang government recognizes the new Soviet regime.

The problem is that the Beiyang government is actually controlled by foreign forces, and it dare not recognize it without the consent of its foreign masters.In the end, there was a compromise, which was that the Beiyang government announced that it would not recognize the tsarist government.Even so, those foreign masters were still dissatisfied, but the Beiyang government decided to back down. At the same time, the "May 4th" Movement gathered revolutionary forces and promoted the establishment of some large and small revolutionary groups with socialist tendencies. "New Youth Organization"

It was one of them, and its members included Chen Duxiu, the dean of the liberal arts at Peking University, and Li Dazhao, the head of the library, who would later become the founders of the Chinese Communist Party. Tall and energetic Mao Zedong as a library assistant, December 1919.Mao Zedong participated in the newly established "Socialist Research Association".These forces representing the future gathered in Beijing this year, while Chiang Kai-shek was doing other things at this time. So what is Chiang doing?Chiang Kai-shek was still in charge of the Second Detachment of the Cantonese Army, and he increasingly disliked staying there. In the first half of 1919, Chiang Kai-shek left the army under the pretext of visiting his mother.In fact.For most of the year, Chiang Kai-shek stayed in Shanghai and Tokyo.

Deng Keng, chief of staff of the Cantonese Army, was Chiang Kai-shek's best friend. This summer, Chiang Kai-shek wrote to him twice to discuss his views on the Cantonese Army. Waste, he could not select officers himself, and any suggestions he made were not taken.In short, the situation is simply hopeless, so Chiang Kai-shek believes that the second detachment should be disbanded. In a second letter, dated July 9, Chiang complained that the situation was getting worse, that he was "weakened physically and mentally," and that banditry was rampant in some areas, but that they were powerless to deal with the bandits due to poor discipline and serious internal factional struggles.In order to avoid people accusing him of being obsessed with official positions and speculating, Chiang Kai-shek decided to resign as the commander of the second detachment.

During Chiang Kai-shek's career, whenever the situation did not go as he wished, he resigned to retreat.He has resigned several times in an attempt to prove that he is indispensable, and the result is often that when he returns, he will be more powerful.This time Sun Yat-sen and Chen Jiongming repeatedly tried to persuade him to stay, but Chiang Kai-shek refused. It was not until September 1920 that Chiang Kai-shek returned to Guangdong because one of his friends, Zhu Zhixin, was killed by the Guangxi warlord.Zhu Zhixin's coffin was transported to Hong Kong, and Chiang Kai-shek went to mourn, and drew up a battle plan to expel the Guangxi warlords with the Cantonese army. But at this time, the conflict between Chiang Kai-shek and Chen Jiongming was irreconcilable. In November 1920, Sun Yat-sen wrote a sincere and serious letter to Chiang Kai-shek, urging him to stay and try to build a good relationship with Chen Jiongming. Sun Yat-sen called Chiang Kai-shek "my dear brother Jieshi" regardless of the traditional habits of his age.The letter reads: Faith suddenly collapsed, making me feel like losing my left and right hands.In our party, those who know the military affairs and are able to take care of others are rare nowadays, but the bravery and honesty of brothers can be compared with the trustworthiness, and the knowledge of soldiers is even better.The brother is stubborn and jealous, so he often disagrees with each other, but he bears a heavy responsibility for the party. He reluctantly sacrifices what he sees and degrades in order to pursue it. Therefore, he is for the party, not for the individual. At first, Chiang Kai-shek could listen to Sun Yat-sen's advice, but his dissatisfaction with Chen Jiongming continued unabated.Chen Jiongming did not adopt Chiang Kai-shek's opinion, and as a result, he did not wipe out all the warlords of the Guangxi clique.In anger, Chiang Kai-shek left for Shanghai. He called Sun Yat-sen to explain his reason for leaving, but at this point Sun Yat-sen was in no mood to listen to Chiang's complaints.In his view, Chen Jiongming had achieved his goal, that is, to drive the Guangxi warlords out of Guangdong. There were still remnants of the Guangxi warlords, but it was not harmful to the overall situation. Sun Yat-sen decided to return to Guangzhou and rebuild the military government.Sun Yat-sen asked Chiang to return to Guangzhou to fulfill his duties.Angrily, Jiang went back to his hometown, Xikou, to visit the family. Even though Chiang was out of office for a long time, Sun Yat-sen still trusted him very much. When Chiang finally returned to Canton in late November 1920, he found that the post he had been offered as Minister of the Interior under the reestablished military government was not to his liking. On the other hand, Chen Jiongming has begun to establish his own power, and his titles even surpassed Sun Yat-sen: Minister of the Army, Governor of Guangdong, Commander-in-Chief of the Guangdong Army, and Supreme Prosecutor of Guangdong and Guangxi. On January 12, 1921, a parliamentary meeting was held in Guangzhou to vote.Despite being underrepresented in a quorum, Sun Yat-sen, as the "Father of the Revolution", has been the leader of the forces of justice several times.This time, Sun Yat-sen hopes to become the natural leader through legal procedures. In April, members of Congress elected Sun Yat-sen as the country's extraordinary president. On May 5, Sun was officially sworn in. Although many biographies play up Sun Yat-sen's close relationship with Chiang Kai-shek, it is clear that Sun Yat-sen never took Chiang Kai-shek's advice seriously, nor did he consider him a close friend.Chiang Kai-shek repeatedly advised Sun Yat-sen not to hold this election, because this kind of election did not reach a quorum and lacked legal effect; and once the Southern Union collapsed and no longer loyal to the government, this kind of election would be meaningless.Chiang Kai-shek argued that any dissenting opinion should be considered. Chiang Kai-shek resigned this time in anger for nearly three months.He was constantly under pressure from various quarters to return to Guangzhou.Work for Sun Yat-sen.In the end, he lost his patience and sent away the Kuomintang lobbyists. On January 5, 1921, Chiang wrote to apologize for his actions: "I was short-tempered and acted recklessly, . Sun apologized for his actions, but also said: "My brother—you are too stubborn and hopeless. If you are dissatisfied with any trivial matter, you will be furious." Chiang Kai-shek himself recalled that after reading the letter brought by the visitor, he was moved almost to tears and decided to return to Guangzhou. After Chen Jiongming defeated his opponent, the warlord of the Guangxi faction, he already had a huge team consisting of several divisions. At this time, he was preparing to establish his own feudal separatist forces in southern China.Therefore, he delayed Sun Yat-sen's order to continue the westward expedition against the Guangxi clique, let alone any suggestion from Chiang Kai-shek. In Guangzhou in February 1921, Chiang Kai-shek had detected Chen Jiongming's ambitions, but Sun Yat-sen was still not convinced. The reason why Jiang still returned to Guangzhou was due to Sun Yat-sen's repeated urging on the one hand, and on the other hand, he was always eager for the opportunity to completely eradicate the remaining Gui army in Guangxi.At this time, the Minister of the Interior is most worried about the lack of funds, so he can't take care of challenging Chen Jiongming for the time being.Chiang Kai-shek believed that imposing tariffs was the best way to raise funds, but the problem was that foreign embassies and missions in Beijing did not recognize the Guangdong military government and refused to cooperate with it, and Chen Jiongming also supported the attitude of foreign embassies.It was this reason that prompted Sun Yat-sen to conduct an election in order to be elected a very large president.Because in this way, he has the same legal status as the head of the Beiyang government. In May 1921, Chiang Kai-shek wrote to Sun Yat-sen expressing his complete opposition to this election plan.He believes that the warlords in Guangxi have not been completely eliminated, and the southwest has not yet been brought under control, so there is no time for elections at this moment.What's more, the election lacked a legal basis due to the lack of a quorum of members. He wrote: "After the rebellion in Guangxi is quelled, we are expected to continue marching to the northeast and directly attack the heart of the enemy."He also wrote confidently: "Unifying the whole of China is not a very difficult task."At the end of the letter, he reminded Sun Yat-sen not to trust Chen Jiongming again. Sun Yat-sen did not pay much attention to Chiang Kai-shek's letter.Chiang Kai-shek did not participate in the Guangxi campaign, and when his mother died on June 14, he rushed back immediately and stayed until his mother's burial was completed in November.During this period, except for returning to Guangdong a few times, he spent most of his time in Xikou. Sun Yat-sen did not attend the funeral, but he wrote a touching eulogy for Mrs. Jiang Tai, which was read by someone else at the funeral. As Chiang judged, Chen Jiongming began to betray the revolution. On March 21, 1922, Deng Keng, a senior officer of the Guangdong Army and a friend of Chiang Kai-shek, was assassinated.Chen Jiongming is deeply involved, but there is no conclusive evidence to accuse him.Chen Jiongming had a great possibility to assassinate Deng Keng, because Deng Keng was very loyal to Sun Yat-sen.Chen Jiongming planned to crowd out or get rid of the senior officers around Sun Yat-sen, leaving him isolated and helpless; then he forced Sun Yat-sen to postpone or even abandon the Northern Expedition plan. Chiang Kai-shek strongly demanded that Sun Yat-sen secretly drive his troops into Guangzhou to re-establish his authority as Generalissimo, then eliminate the remaining Guangxi troops in Guangxi, and finally embark on the Northern Expedition. In April, Sun Yat-sen's troops marched to Guangzhou.At this time, Chen Jiongming sent a telegram to Sun Yat-sen, requesting to resign from several of his major positions-this is the traditional Chinese way of keeping distance.Sun Yat-sen approved his resignation, but asked him to remain as the Minister of the Army. Chen Jiongming refused Sun Yat-sen's request to stay, and sent his troops back to Huizhou, east of Guangzhou, where they waited for an opportunity. Chiang Kai-shek strongly demanded to attack Huizhou and then pacify Guangxi, but Sun Yat-sen once again rejected Chiang Kai-shek's proposal.Angry; Chiang Kai-shek returned to Shanghai. On April 22, he wrote to Chen Jiongming, calling on him to join forces with Sun Yat-sen in the Northern Expedition.Chen Jiongming ignored it. Chen Jiongming's secret collusion with the northern warlords has now become public.These northern warlords have their own representatives in the Beijing government.The Beiyang government called Sun Yat-sen to ask him to resign, and Chen Jiongming and his staff publicly supported this request. On June 16, relying on the political and military support of the Beiyang government, Chen Jiongming openly sent his troops to bombard Sun Yat-sen's official residence in an attempt to murder Sun Yat-sen. At this time, Chiang Kai-shek was still in Shanghai. He later recalled that Chen Jiongming had promised his subordinates that if he could kill Sun Yat-sen, he would be rewarded with 200,000 U.S. dollars and he would loot the city of Guangzhou for three days. Sun Yat-sen persisted until the end, and only left Guangzhou under the persuasion of his comrades.On the streets of Guangzhou, he once encountered rebels, but fortunately he was not recognized. Sun Yat-sen fled to the "Yongfeng" warship moored in Huangpu Port. Although Sun Yat-sen didn't listen to Chiang Kai-shek's advice, so that he is in the situation today, if Chiang Kai-shek is not loyal to Sun Yat-sen, he will be worthless. Upon hearing the news, Chiang Kai-shek immediately went south from Shanghai and continued to follow Sun Yat-sen.They spent 56 days on the ship.The ship was sweltering and hot, and there was a lack of food and fresh water.At night, Chiang Kai-shek went ashore to look for food, and at dawn he returned to the ship to sleep or guard on the deck. They didn't have time to leave by ship, because they pinned their hopes on Jiang's colleague Xu Chongzhi to lead the crusade to defeat Chen Jiongming.But their hopes were dashed. On August 6, they got the bad news of Xu Zhanbai; on the 7th, they learned the details.Two days later, their insider reported that someone was plotting to kill Sun Yat-sen.Finally, the British warship agreed to send Sun Yat-sen and his few followers to Hong Kong and from there to Shanghai. During this period of adversity, Chiang Kai-shek has always followed Sun Yat-sen, loyal, although he did not obey everything.Sun Yat-sen finally realized that the person who had given him good advice and steadfastly supported him was none other than Chiang Kai-shek. From then on, Chiang Kai-shek began to flourish.