Chapter 10 Chapter 10 Chiang "Unifies" China

On October 10 (the "Double Ten Day", which was the anniversary of the 1911 Revolution), Chiang Kai-shek took office as chairman of the new National Government Committee. The 18-member government council includes several rightists but no leftists. The government included northern warlords such as Feng Yuxiang, Yan Xishan and Zhang Xueliang as part of the spoils deal that marked "unification."As chairman of the government and commander-in-chief, Chiang Kai-shek at this moment has overwhelming power. In 1928, Chiang Kai-shek resumed the Northern Expedition, occupied Beijing, and was appointed commander-in-chief of the National Revolutionary Army.

At least in the papers, he brought China under his rule, and all the other great warlords threw themselves under his banner except Zhang Zuolin, the last of whom died when Chiang entered the northern capital. As for the Communists, Chiang believed in the first months of that year that they would never recover from their 1927 defeat.Indeed, in the clashes between the Kuomintang and Communist forces that summer, the Kuomintang troops clearly had the upper hand. But soon, the situation became clear, and 1928 was a whirlwind victory.Just an unreal dream.Chiang's success depended solely on the strength of his troops and little else.He claimed to be Sun Yat-sen's successor, but this ideal was far from universal recognition.Among the other forces was Chiang's strongest rival, the Communist Party.

Chiang always wanted to thwart them, but never achieved a decisive victory until their strength grew from strength to strength. China under the Kuomintang rule in 1928 is like a patient who looks healthy but actually refuses to admit that he has cancer. After the failure of the Autumn Harvest Uprising, Mao's forces were reduced to a few hundred men.They marched into the treacherous mountains of the Chingkang Mountains, which straddle the two provinces of Hunan and Jiangxi.They reached this new mountain base as early as November 1927.In February of the following year, they joined forces led by Zhu De, and this united force was named the "Fourth Army of the Red Army of Chinese Workers and Peasants."At that time, the number reached 8,000 to 10,000 people.

It is no exaggeration to say that in this small area of ​​no more than 900 square miles under Communist rule, Mao Zedong laid the political foundation for his future conquest of China.It was under his guidance that the Chinese Communist Party's army gradually matured politically.Initially, it was only a highly political armed force, receiving political training as well as military training.It is also an equal army, with very low pay, but everyone has it.From generals to soldiers; the same nickel every day.Funding "can only be obtained by expropriating local tyrants" (Mao wrote).

Mao worked hard to bring peasants and troops together.In the initial stages of creation, they encouraged peasants to participate in the struggle against landowners and rich peasants. Since these poor peasants had indeed been oppressed and exploited for centuries, they participated with some enthusiasm, and they saw the troops as their liberators and an extension of themselves.In addition, Mao established strict discipline for the behavior of troops when they were assigned to live in poor peasant homes. While Mao was first settling down in that rocky headquarters, Chiang Kai-shek was preparing to restore his dictatorship in the Kuomintang and the Kuomintang-controlled areas.His colleagues actually regarded him as a "permanent" ruler, although they did not mean it, making them aware that he was indispensable.Qualifications are important.

After ordering the closure of the Soviet office in mid-December, Chiang returned to Shanghai, no doubt partly to stay with his bride, but more importantly to force his colleagues to invite him back. On January 2, 1928, Chiang received a telegram urging him to go immediately to Nanking, the seat of government, and resume his leadership of the Northern Expedition. On the 4th, after receiving several more telegrams, Jiang boarded the train and returned to the capital.En route, two unrelated attempts to derail the train were foiled. On the 9th, he officially resumed his post as commander-in-chief of the Northern Expedition. He swore allegiance to the Central Executive Committee and began to complete the Northern Expedition.

His colleagues now recognize the cost of agreeing to Chiang's resignation.They needed his military capabilities but didn't want to give him political power.Therefore, he was elected chairman of the military council, but only as an ordinary member of the party's bureau.The Kuomintang's inner-party elections were held in Nanjing in February, and all those present agreed not to carry out military assaults. His colleagues may have wished to limit his power.But Chiang inevitably dominated the meeting. Towards the end of January, he attempted to win the support of intellectual public opinion by publishing a new manifesto, Chiang said, that China should stop negotiating unequal treaties with governments.He warned that, if necessary, China would declare its treaties with these countries null and void.The new policy towards the USSR should be defined and carefully explained.

This policy would remain in effect until the attitude of the Soviet Union towards the Chinese revolution actually changed.In this manifesto there is a strange suggestion - that China should help the "oppressed people" of the colonies and dependent countries to liberate themselves. When it comes to Chiang's position in domestic affairs, we need some background.The second article of Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People is democracy, and it clearly shows from the beginning that democracy is by no means something that the people can enjoy in the near future.As early as 1924, the "1st National Congress" of the Kuomintang, which was greatly influenced by Borodin, advocated the one-party dictatorship of the Kuomintang.

Dr. Sun himself explained that the revolution needs to go through three stages: military administration, political training, and constitutionalism.During the political training phase, the party will monopolize political power, but this phase should be used to train talents for local governments.Depending on the length of training and the success of the training, they can transition from a government of scholasticism to a constitutional government and, in time, to forms of democratic politics. At any rate, this is only a theory, and now—January 1928— Chiang Kai-shek was advocating a clear and straightforward definition of these three successive stages.

This way people will know where they are standing. In all regions of China, officials must undergo self-government training, along with professional examinations, in order to find the right specialists for the right jobs. A few days later, when the Kuomintang Central Committee convened a plenary meeting, all of Chiang's proposals were adopted.However, his request for a time limit for the "political training" phase is in vain.In February 1928, the whole issue seemed surreal and confusing. To be precise, the "political training" stage has not even begun, because the "military and political" stage has not yet passed, and the first thing to consider is to continue the Northern Expedition until the final victory is achieved.

Chiang Kai-shek was asked how long the Northern Expedition would take, and he said he thought it could be completed by August. The meeting ended on February 7.A few days later, Jiang got in touch with Feng Yuxiang.Together, the two drafted a detailed plan for the resumption of the Northern Expedition and completed the arrangement of the top military candidates. Because of Feng's late alliance with the Kuomintang, he had no intention at the moment to question Chiang's supremacy.Both sides agreed that Jiang, in addition to the overall command, would personally lead the 100,000 men of the First Route Army; Feng Yuxiang would lead the Second Route Army; the Third Route Army would be led by Yan Xishan; and Li Zongren would lead the Fourth Route Army, as the remaining troops. Even in this time of turmoil and anticipation, Shanghai attracted Chiang Kai-shek. At the beginning of March, he brought Madam Jiang to Shanghai again. Holrington Tang once wrote: "He didn't really like this cosmopolitan city on the Huangpu River very much, and he stayed there only when his duties required it," There must also be something of equal potential value attracting him—friends, money, influence, sinister allure? ——Because he never leaves Shanghai for a long time.In any case, he did not come to Shanghai this time to praise it, but only to review his troops in the Longhua garrison area and remind them to stand by and ignore troublesome matters involving foreign troops in the concession, which had recently been Several similar incidents occurred. He said: "Shanghai is a place where people from all countries gather. If our people here do not keep order, then our task will become doubly difficult. The environment in Shanghai is too bad. Most of them are stationed here. A month or at most half a year's army will become demoralized and weak. Therefore, we officers must be determined to control the troops, protect the soldiers from all kinds of temptations, restrain their vices, and set an example for our soldiers." When he returned to Nanking a few days later, determined to act ruthlessly, he shot 50 soldiers accused of participating in the previous year's riots against foreign countries. In addition, many others were arrested by the military. This is his way of assuring foreign powers that they will not interfere again.He wants to reduce contact with them, not alienate them.He then formally assured them that there would be no further atrocities against foreigners during the Northern Expedition.He then called on foreign countries to stop providing arms and money to the warlords because that would prolong the civil war. At the end of the month, Chiang moved his headquarters to Xuzhou, the northernmost point the Nationalists had advanced in the second phase of the Northern Expedition.He deployed his troops along the east-west line on the north bank of the Yangtze River.About 700,000 people obeyed his command, which was nearly 7 times the army of the first Northern Expedition.And he was facing Zhang Zuolin's 400,000 troops—commanded by his son Zhang Xueliang ("Young Marshal"), and another 60,000 under the command of other generals. On April 7th, Chiang announced the launch of the general offensive, his strategy was clear, and initially it was carried out strictly according to the plan.The main force was his own All the way army, advancing north along the Jinpu line.At the same time, Feng Yuxiang's Second Route Army and Yan Xishan's Third Route Army attacked Hebei from the south and west respectively, diverting the troops of the Northeast warlords from the main battlefield.On the 21st day after the offensive began, the national army entered Jinan, the capital of Shandong province. At Jinan, however, they were thwarted by a new and unexpected enemy—the Japanese.A series of atrocities committed by the Japanese army were caused by the so-called "Jinan Incident". The Japanese once felt a little proud of Chiang because of their strict military training; but now they see Chiang as a threat to their plans to plunder the North and to be contained in some way Jiang, otherwise, he will drive Zhang Zuolin, the object of protection of Japan, out of Beijing. The Japanese created the "Jinan Incident" because they had important commercial interests there. Under an agreement in 1919, Japan had taken over German privileges in Shantung.China has not yet recognized this status quo, but Japan decided to exercise this right and use it as a reason to obstruct the Kuomintang's Northern Expedition.So, they sent a lot of troops to the city. Chiang Kai-shek was anxious to avoid conflict.It was not necessary for his troops to pass through Jinan, because the northern army had already retreated, so he ordered the officers not to enter Jinan.However, one of the officers may have misunderstood the order, or may have flouted it, and as a result, they drove into Tsinan.Soon, the Kuomintang army and Japan were in a tense confrontation. The first atrocities happened.The Japanese surrounded the local office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kuomintang government, cut off the nose and ears of the person in charge and 16 personnel, and then killed them. When Chiang sent the foreign minister of the Nationalist government to negotiate with the Japanese generals, he was also arrested.Under duress, he signed a statement blaming the Chinese for starting the incident. At the same time, Jinan City was strafed and bombarded by machine guns.The commander-in-chief is faced with two choices.He could either resist the Japanese, which would have to be done at the risk of violent confrontation and defeat, or submit to the Japanese and continue his attack north.He chose the latter and quietly withdrew his troops from Jinan, transferring his main force to the area of ​​Henan he had taken over.When the fighting died down, the retreat drew much criticism for him. The Jinan incident halted the Northern Expedition for a week.By the end of May, Chiang had eliminated two of the three warlords who had blocked his progress—Wu Peifu and Sun Chuanfang.The third warlord, Zhang Zuolin, was also about to give up Beijing, and he lost his life later. On June 3, Zhang issued a telegram announcing that his troops would withdraw from the pass. He and his entourage packed their bags, boarded the train, and headed for Fengtian.They didn't know that although the Japanese had funded him, it was only because he was useful to them, and now they had decided to abandon him and make him die.As the train approached Fengtian, a Japanese powerful bomb planted in the carriage Zhang was traveling in exploded and Zhang Zuolin was fatally wounded. This important news to him did not come to Chiang quickly, because the young marshal Chang Hsueh-liang kept the matter secret until he had made the best choice, which was evidently his decision to join the Kuomintang side. In early June, Chiang Kai-shek and his troops triumphantly entered the northern capital.Zhang Xueliang had announced that all troops would be withdrawn to the northeast, and he then sent his emissary to Peking to negotiate with Chiang, but without result.Furthermore, Chiang sent secret envoys to Fengtian.Among them is a reporter named Xiao Dongzhu. The reason why he can become an envoy is because he can play golf, love to dance, and can drink, and these are Zhang Xueliang's favorite pastimes. For weeks, the two of them saw each other often, though only at the ballroom or on the golf course.Later, Xiao reported to Jiang that the young marshal knew very well that as long as his troops could stay in the Northeast, he was ready to join the National Army. Zhang Xueliang happily accepted Chiang's appointment as deputy commander-in-chief of the National Revolutionary Army, an honor many other warlords sought but did not receive.This typically Chinese solution enabled Chiang to effectively control the Northeast warlords. Perhaps, in this matter, Jiang had no other choice, because he was unwilling to spare any more power to deal with the Northeast campaign.However, there was a reason why he allowed the young marshal to continue to occupy the Northeast: Zhang Xueliang was in this position to compete with the Shanxi warlord Yan Xishan, because Jiang did not trust Yan. This trick was obtained by Jiang from Yang Yongtai.Yang was Chiang's most astute personal assistant, a speechwriter for the commander-in-chief at the time, whom Chiang trusted (Yang was later assassinated during the crackdown on the Communists). During the exhilarating days of capturing Beijing, news of an ominous conflict 2,000 miles to the south seemed to go unnoticed. In June and July 1928, the Kuomintang army continued to attack the Jinggangshan area, the stronghold of the Communist Party, which was a headache for them.In the first attack, the Kuomintang troops deserted and captured as many as 1,000 people; in the second, they captured and occupied some Communist towns, but withdrew after 20 days.But this time, the national government's attention was mainly on the north, so Mao's base was in a state of peace until winter came. On July 22, a unit of the Nationalist Army staged an uprising, and a whole regiment defected to the Communist Party. The regiment was headed by Peng Dehuai, who later became a world-famous marshal of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and served as the Minister of Defense of the People's Republic of China.The troops he led were united with the local peasants' armed forces in July 1928, called the Fifth Army. Mao Zedong was in some trouble at the moment.Land reform brought many poor peasants to the side of the Communist Party, but alienated many middle peasants who needed to work with it.The blockade and summer offensive of the Kuomintang army brought many disadvantages.Mao's troops were poorly paid and provided poorly, so some people also started to make trouble. Politically, Mao was still unsuccessful due to his failure in the first year.He failed to attend the Sixth Congress of the Communist Party of China, which was held in Moscow from July 17 to September 1.The leadership of the Communist Party fell into the hands of Li Lisan.He was an intellectual who had studied abroad in France.Before long, he was embroiled in a historic dispute with Mao Zedong.Zhou Enlai was elected as the new Politburo member, but Mao Zedong was not.Mao was elected as a member of the Central Committee.However, due to poor communication equipment, Mao did not know that he had been partially reinstated until winter. Chiang, of course, was not aware of these changes at the time, although he referred to these circumstances in a book he wrote years later entitled The Soviets in China. Stationing in Beijing was the peak of his Northern Expedition. Accompanied by senior military generals, he made a pious pilgrimage to Biyun Temple in Xishan. In front of Sun Yat-sen's coffin, Jiang and his colleagues took off their hats and stood there. After a while, Jiang couldn't help sobbing. Emotions are fleeting, and so is the euphoria of victory. Now that the fighting was over, new factional struggles arose within the Kuomintang immediately between leftists and conservatives, and between supporters and opponents of Chiang Kai-shek. In late July 1928, Chiang went to Nanjing to attend a meeting of the KMT Central Executive Committee.He submitted his resignation, but no one was surprised, because everyone is familiar with his habits, this time, he has a reason that can be made public.It was very clear that he was only Commander-in-Chief during the battle, and now the battle was over. However, the real reason for Chiang's resignation at that time was to stop his subordinate generals, because they hoped that Jiang would ignore the loyalty shown by the young marshal and continue to occupy the Northeast with military offensives.In short, they believed that Zhang Xueliang's father had commanded an army against the South in Beijing, so his son must be taught a lesson and bowed to the hard line, but Chiang was eager to consolidate his power and the ensuing revolution he envisioned , and conquering the Northeast will waste the already insufficient manpower and material resources. Chiang's subordinates believed that Chiang was wrong, and at the same time, they emphasized that it was unreasonable for Chiang not to be commander-in-chief in peacetime.In fact, it would be really useful to them if Chiang became the chairman of the Executive Yuan.But in terms of real power, all this is not enough. Chiang can add new titles to the positions he already has, but it is another matter to make people truly obey him.In this sense, Chiang's power is illusory. After the successful completion of the Northern Expedition, Chiang's colleagues and subordinates noticed a change in him, that is, they found him "arrogant, conceited, and arbitrary." For his part, he declared himself the rightful heir to Sun Yat-sen's revolution, and he saw the unification of China as a personal obedience to which his fellow revolutionaries voluntarily submitted. At the Kuomintang Central Executive Committee meeting, the members adopted Chiang's proposal: According to Dr. Sun's wishes, five courts of legislation, administration, justice, supervision and examination were established. This, at least on paper, embodies Sun's five-power constitution with Chinese characteristics. Then they resumed their bickering, the rightists withdrew, and Chiang declared the meeting closed, which was mid-August. After that, Chiang tried his best to persuade both the left and right of the Kuomintang to cooperate with him.He collaborated more successfully with the Right than with the Left.He sent telegrams to Wang Jingwei and Mrs. Sun who was in Europe, but there was no reply. In October, the Executive Committee met in Nanjing to implement the resolutions that had been made. On October 4, the "Organization Law of the Republic of China" was promulgated. During the "political training" period—— That is, the period of the Kuomintang's one-party dictatorship - officially announced the beginning, but did not specify the end date.Soon, the highest central government agency of the Kuomintang was named the "National Government". On October 10 (the "Double Ten Day", which was the anniversary of the 1911 Revolution), Chiang Kai-shek took office as chairman of the new National Government Committee. The 18-member government council includes several rightists but no leftists. The government included northern warlords such as Feng Yuxiang, Yan Xishan and Zhang Xueliang as part of the spoils deal that marked "unification."As chairman of the government and commander-in-chief, Chiang Kai-shek at this moment has overwhelming power.Moreover, everyone agreed that he had the right to receive representatives of foreign powers alone, which made him the head of the Republic in effect rather than in name. Thus, after wars and several resignations, Chiang had reached the pinnacle of his political career. At this time, he was only 41 years old.He chose Nanjing as the capital of the Republic of China. Later, the late Xiao Dongzhu, who had been the head of the Central News Agency for 40 years, listed the reasons for establishing the capital in Nanjing to Eric Zhou in detail in 1947: 1.In Nanjing, Dr. Sun Yat-sen was sworn in as interim president. 2.Beiping is too far away from Jiangxi, and the communists established a base camp in Jiangxi, and Chiang Kai-shek wanted to use troops against Jiangxi. 3.Nanjing is very close to Shanghai, which is the financial center of the country. 4.Chiang's own troops were mostly southerners, and it was difficult for them to settle in the north. 5.Jiang hoped that Nanjing's close geographical connection with Shanghai would increase his international presence. 6.Chiang believed that Peiping had been the seat of the imperial palace of the feudal empire for a long time, so it was not suitable to be accepted as the headquarters of the revolution. The legendary Feng Yuxiang came to the quarrelsome political arena in Nanjing. His well-known antique torn straw hat, the faded gray field uniform worn by soldiers, and his handmade cloth shoes made him a The living embodiment of frugal fame.He liked to drive around the city by himself in a military truck, calling on certain senior officials anonymously at some point before breakfast to wake them from their deep slumbers. joy.He became Minister of War and obviously people expected him to keep spending to a minimum. Yan Xishan came to Nanjing with great reluctance. Later, he was appointed Minister of the Interior, but things did not go as he understood, and he returned to his headquarters in Taiyuan soon after. These new arrangements are stopgap measures.At the height of Chiang's apparent power, he made an inspection trip. In November 1928, on his way to inspect, he ordered all gambling establishments, opium dens and brothels in Bengbu to be closed immediately within three days. In Anqing, he called a meeting of local officials and instructed them to eliminate bandits, build roads, and run schools.This is a new era, he said. When he returned to the political battles in Nanking, he complained: "Since the death of Dr. Sun, there has not been a day when we have been fully aligned and united." He scolded loudly: "Officials don't know the meaning of work... My working hours are not long - only six hours a day... But I still see some employees looking lazy at their desks, some Staring blankly at the clearing, some reading a newspaper, or sleeping." At the end of that year, the odds were in Chiang's favor. Li Zongren was angered by his arrangement of the young marshal to the Executive Yuan, but Zhang Xueliang lived up to Jiang's expectations. On November 29, 1928, he ordered the national government's flag to be raised over the Fengtian headquarters, and publicly announced his respect for the national government. loyalty. Ironically, eight years later, in the famous Xi'an Incident, he kidnapped and humiliated Chiang. At the end of 1928, Chiang could claim to have "unified" China under his leadership.Datang Chinese School Scanner