Chapter 11 Chapter Eleven The Lost Revolution

The momentary glory caused Chiang Kai-shek to ignore the only correct principle that should be paid attention to in territorial conquest in a feudal country: That is - "He should get rid of those who initially opposed him and replace them with people he chooses, and the newly elected people should be loyal to the new Republic of China and the leader of the Republic of China, Chiang Kai-shek." At this time, two outstanding figures emerged in the Chinese communist movement: Mao Zedong and Li Lisan. ...During the "Cultural Revolution", Li Lisan committed suicide because he was provoked by Red Guards loyal to Mao Zedong.

Chiang Kai-shek himself and the outside world believed that he had achieved the "unification" of China by the end of 1928. However, this was just a cruel illusion. This illusion is grand and impressive on the surface, but if you look closely, you will find that there is nothing real in it. Chiang Kai-shek's Northern Expedition won the hearts of the people, which led many enemy troops and their generals to vote under his command.But this also created the problem that although Chiang Kai-shek fought fiercely with warlords everywhere to keep himself in power, he never really controlled his opponents or conquered their turf.

They just admitted that Chiang Kai-shek was stronger than themselves in a traditional Chinese way, so they decided to turn the tide.This is why Chiang Kai-shek was able to advance so quickly on the battlefield and why the Nationalist Army was able to claim 2 million men in 1928, a 20-fold increase from the original 100,000 men. Although Franco's conquest of Spain is not strictly comparable to Chiang Kai-shek's so-called conquest of China, it is useful to enumerate the differences between the two. It took almost 32 months of hard and bloody war for Franco to become master of all of Spain, whereas it took Chiang Kai-shek only 12 months - the first nine of which were between 1926 and 1927.A period of political truce followed; the last three months were the "conquest" of the Central Plains, an area seven times larger than Spain, between April and June 1928.

Franco wiped out his enemies, vanquished them on the field of battle, and exiled or executed what remained, while Chiang Kai-shek was content with the formal submission of his opponents. The main difference between China before the Northern Expedition and China at the end of 1928 was that the warlords who were originally enemies of the Kuomintang later claimed to be members of the Kuomintang. For the most part, these warlords retain power within their turf. In his eagerness for quick success, which would bring him momentary glory and prestige, Chiang Kai-shek neglected the only correct principle of territorial conquest in a feudal state, which is——

He should get rid of those who initially opposed him and replace them with men of his own choice who should be loyal to the nascent Republic and to its leader, Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang Kai-shek failed to gain actual control over the region, and he was easily satisfied with the meaningless allegiance of the local warlords, which was his biggest mistake in judgment. In later years, Chiang Kai-shek's authority was repeatedly challenged by local warlords.Although Chiang Kai-shek was always victorious, these successive regional wars drained his strength and distracted him from dealing with the real problems facing China.At the same time, the base area of ​​the Chinese Communist Party was expanding; moreover, from 1931 onwards, Chiang Kai-shek had to deal with the huge threat posed by the Japanese invaders.

In 1929, Chiang Kai-shek's attempt to weaken the power of local warlords through disarmament led to a crisis that made him acutely aware of the limits of his power.Nothing had brought him to this realization more clearly than this. Hollington Tong, the official biographer of Chiang Kai-shek, had to admit: The Nationalist government actually controlled only a few provinces.Feng Yuxiang ruled the roost in the north, and at the same time, he was the famous Northwest King, controlling Shandong, Henan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai and Ningxia and other provinces.Chiang's opponent, Yan Xishan, commanded the provinces of Hebei, Chahar, and Suiyuan from his base in the rolling hills of Shanxi, and in the south Li Zongren controlled Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, and Hubei.China is actually divided into fragments, which can almost be regarded as separatist regimes... .

Chiang Kai-shek enjoyed undisputed power only in the five provinces on the lower Yangtze. Disarmament became Chiang Kai-shek's top concern, because local warlords relied on the military.Chiang Kai-shek argued that now that the country was united and the war was over, most of the soldiers should be demobilized and return to their civilian lives.These words of his are not unreasonable, but all the warlords know in their hearts that disbanding their army means losing their source of power.Therefore, they resolutely opposed Chiang Kai-shek's demobilization plan.This selfish desire of theirs ultimately thwarted Chiang Kai-shek's attempts.

The situation was both absurd and somewhat tragic.After the national army occupied Beijing, there were 2.2 million troops in the whole of China.If all kinds of regular and miscellaneous troops are added together, then this army can be regarded as the largest army in the relatively peaceful world at that time. In this huge army, according to Chiang Kai-shek's estimate, almost 2 million people were nominally subordinate to the Nationalist government, and the rest were remnants of bandits and warlords who did not obey the Nationalist government.If Hollington Tang's figures are to be believed (and they are only estimates), the 2 million Nationalist troops cost 75 percent of the Nationalist government's annual revenue of about $400 million.

Chiang Kai-shek had already made plans for the arrangement of demobilized personnel. These demobilized soldiers should become a labor force to engage in such work as road construction, tree planting, and mine development. In mid-January 1929, Chiang Kai-shek called a meeting of all senior generals in Nanjing to discuss the issue of demobilization. At that time, the generals in Guangxi had an army of 230,000, Feng Yuxiang had 220,000, and Yan Xishan had 200,000.As for the Nationalist government—that is, Chiang Kai-shek himself—had about 420,000 troops.Li Zongren, Feng Yuxiang, Yan Xishan and others soon realized that Chiang Kai-shek's disarmament proposal was to massively reduce their armies while strengthening his own (which were nominally under the central government of the ROC).

Feng Yuxiang recalled that at the beginning of this meeting, Chiang Kai-shek led all the participants to a portrait of Sun Yat-sen and insisted that everyone swear an oath of allegiance to the portrait. He then proposed that each army should retain only 12 divisions and then demobilize the rest.At this time, a small warlord pointed out that according to Chiang Kai-shek's proposal, those corps with less than 12 divisions had to recruit another six or seven divisions to make up 12 divisions. Chiang Kai-shek ignored the petty warlord's questions, while his own troops had just expanded by a dozen divisions near Peking.

The meeting officially reached a consensus on one thing, that is, to divide the whole country into six layoff areas.This incident made people feel awkward, a bit like making a deal, so the warlords gradually felt uneasy. One afternoon, Chiang Kai-shek invited Feng Yuxiang to take a hot spring bath outside Nanjing.When they finished washing and toweling themselves, Chiang Kai-shek said: "People often say that whoever controls Beijing, Guangdong, Shanghai, and Wuhan controls the whole of China." When the warlords who controlled these areas took action, he replied vaguely: "As a national leader, you have to be generous. As long as you can win the support of the army and the people, it doesn't matter that they occupy these places." , they will all be your brothers, too," The meeting lasted three weeks. On February 7, Feng Yuxiang suddenly withdrew from the meeting, which ended the meeting. The land of China soon rekindled the flames of war.Li Zongren and other Guangxi warlords were the first to act. They targeted and ousted one of Chiang Kai-shek's generals in Hunan, a signal that Li Zongren and Feng Yuxiang had left the Nationalist government. These dramatic steps came during the run-up to the Kuomintang's third national congress, which is scheduled to begin in Nanjing in March. A general from Guangxi had set out from Canton for Nanking to attend the congress and had received security guarantees from the Kuomintang, but as soon as he arrived in Nanking, Chiang Kai-shek ordered his arrest.Chiang Kai-shek explained that there was solid evidence that the general was involved in the conspiracy. Chiang Kai-shek's leftist opponent, Wang Jingwei, sent a long telegram from France to condemn Chiang Kai-shek, but Chiang Kai-shek believed that the election of Wang Jingwei, Feng Yuxiang, and Yan Xishan to the Central Executive Committee would appease them. Feng Yuxiang returned to Shandong, and Yan Xishan was not very interested in being elected to the executive committee. Against this background, the KMT's "Three Big Three" had a restless run - because those who remained more or less loyal to Chiang Kai-shek were reluctant to vote for those who opposed Chiang Kai-shek. Due to the fact that the forces were too scattered, and one general was arrested, another general stationed in the north also suddenly resigned due to the mutiny, the combat effectiveness of the Gui army gradually weakened, and it was hidden in chaos, and soon collapsed. At the end of April, Chiang Kai-shek achieved victory in Central China. Christian General Feng Yuxiang was the next person Chiang Kai-shek had to deal with.When Feng Yuxiang withdrew from the disarmament conference in February, his first goal was to strengthen his control over Shandong.At that time, after long-term negotiations, the Japanese army was preparing to withdraw from the Jiaoji line. To Feng Yuxiang's surprise and the Japanese's surprise, Chiang Kai-shek asked the Japanese to hold off on the evacuation so that his own army - not Feng Yuxiang's - could take over the areas evacuated by the Japanese.In retaliation, Feng Yuxiang mobilized his troops in Henan and cut off the province's railway traffic.At the time, he was still a formidable potential threat to Chiang, but Chiang Kai-shek outplayed him, and Chiang Kai-shek defeated Feng Yuxiang by instigating a mutiny among Feng Yuxiang's men. This can't help but remind people of Feng Yuxiang's betrayal of Wu Peifu.Feng Yuxiang fully trusted Han Fuju, his commander stationed in Henan, but Han had already been bribed by Chiang, and defected to Chiang Kai-shek's side at the end of May, taking with him three division commanders and Feng Yuxiang's 100,000 elite troops.A bribed teacher became famous for being good at asking prices, and he soon left Chiang Kai-shek's camp. At the same time, Chiang Kai-shek and the Guangxi warlords resumed their war, this time in Guangdong.After fairly fierce fighting, the Guangxi army suffered a disastrous defeat at the end of June 1929. From then on, Chiang Kai-shek gained actual control over central and southern China, not just nominal control. As in the past, the government's ability to implement taxation is the measure of the government. After defeating the Guangxi warlords, the national government can collect taxes in 22 provinces across the country. Chiang Kai-shek was a little elated, but he was still dissatisfied with certain things.He issued a manifesto to the nation refuting accusations that he was authoritarian, warning those who would disobey his orders, and calling for national unity.He also said that once the situation stabilized, he would resign to complete his long-delayed trip abroad. Both Chinese and foreign businessmen in Shanghai were frustrated by Chiang Kai-shek's remarks.But those familiar with Chiang Kai-shek's past resignations were reassured -- or skeptical -- of his speech, because Chiang Kai-shek's resignations were often made in retreat. Then, more and more shadow puppets came out. On August 1, Chiang Kai-shek held a meeting to discuss how to implement the army reduction measures formulated at the beginning of the year.This time, none of the leading generals was present at the meeting, and were busy with other things.The meeting decided to reduce the standing army to 65 divisions, and the establishment of each division was reduced to 11,000 people. The habit of resignation seemed contagious, and Song Ziwen announced that he could not raise the money to carry out the layoffs and resigned as finance minister. Not long after this unnecessary meeting, Wang Jingwei returned to China from Europe.He immediately drafted and sent a telegram condemning Chiang Kai-shek. The wording of this telegram was strong and specific, which Wang Jingwei's previous similar telegrams did not have. The telegram stated that Chiang Kai-shek was not only cronyistic, but also regarded China as his own private property.In addition, he also accused him of selling China's sovereignty to the Japanese in the "Jinan Incident", and said that it was time to "take up arms and eliminate the national thieves". Wang Jingwei's return made Chiang Kai-shek very troubled.This leftist leader and his followers are known as the "reorganization faction" because they clearly proposed to reorganize the Kuomintang and make it have a leftist color again. Feng Yuxiang and his friend Yan Xishan (who supported Feng in the conflict between Feng and Jiangxin) held secret negotiations with the "reform faction". This ensued in a typical Chinese interlude, with Chiang Kai-shek and Feng Yuxiang exchanging some flamboyant rhetoric Telegram, discussing pleasant issues such as going abroad, Chiang Kai-shek thinks going abroad is a happy thing. At one point it seemed that Yan Xishan would also go abroad with Feng Yuxiang.Chiang Kai-shek promised not to touch Feng Yuxiang's army, and the central government will pay Feng Yuxiang's army, and Feng Yuxiang will also get 200,000 US dollars in travel expenses.These conditions should be said to be good. Feng Yuxiang believed that he could make a deal with Wang Jingwei, and Wang Jingwei also believed that Feng Yuxiang might help him achieve the very limited purpose of expelling Chiang Kai-shek. In the long run, Christian general Feng Yuxiang, like Chiang Kai-shek, would become less useful to Wang Jingwei, but Wang Jingwei still encouraged Feng Yuxiang to challenge Chiang Kai-shek again at this time (October 10, 1929), this time, Wang Jingwei used Using a well-known political technique (which Yuan Shikai also used frequently), he rallied his subordinates (27 in all) to denounce Chiang Kai-shek and called on Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan to attack Chiang Kai-shek. In the ensuing war, Yan Xishan unexpectedly remained neutral, while Feng Yuxiang suffered consecutive defeats due to the defection of 100,000 elite troops. Therefore, at the end of November, Feng Yuxiang's troops were driven out of Henan. At this time, a Sino-Soviet conflict in the Northeast saved Feng Yuxiang's fate, but it was only temporary (the Soviet army entered the Northeast on November 17, 1929, and defeated the Chinese troops that occupied the Middle East Railway a few months ago).Ironically, the Soviet army was commanded by General Galen, who had served as Chiang Kai-shek's military adviser some years earlier. Then, a war of words broke out again.A slogan in Peking read: "Yan Xishan is an uncaged tiger." Indeed, Yan Xishan was the first to attack on February 10, 1930. He sent a telegram to Chiang Kai-shek, asking Chiang Kai-shek to give up his idea of ​​unifying China by force and to resign immediately.In the next few weeks, the exchange of long telegrams between Jiang and Yan became unusually frequent, just as Chiang Kai-shek's text secretary said, "They seem to be telegrams for a lifetime." On February 21, Wang Jingwei was also involved.He sent a telegram condemning the Nanjing government for accepting bribes, corruption, and dictatorship.Tired of this word game, Yan Xishan suddenly confiscated the property of the Nanjing government and disarmed the Central Army in the provinces under his control.Two weeks later, in early April 1930, he assumed the post of commander-in-chief of the anti-Chiang forces.In order to facilitate the command of the troops, Feng Yuxiang served as Yan Xishan's deputy. After that, they fought an extremely bloody six months. If official KMT statistics are to be believed, Yan Xishan's troops suffered 150,000 casualties, while Nanking's troops suffered 30,000 killed and 60,000 wounded. Feng Yuxiang was forced to resign from all his posts.He lived for another 18 years after his resignation, during which time he wrote a great deal of poetry and prose.He has occasionally tried to return to politics. On September 1, 1948, Feng Yuxiang died mysteriously in a fire on a Soviet passenger ship. As for Yan Xishan, Chiang Kai-shek finally allowed him to go back to rule Shanxi, in Sheridan's words, to be "a warlord who obeyed Chiang Kai-shek's orders." In the end, Chiang Kai-shek owed his victories over the Yan-Feng alliance and the "reorganization faction" largely to his young marshal Zhang Xueliang. In the summer of 1930, Wang Jingwei held an "enlarged plenary meeting" of the Kuomintang in Beiping. General Yan Xishan and General Feng Yuxiang both attended the meeting.A disgruntled Li Zongren also attended the meeting.Yan Xishan agreed to lead a "National Government" composed of anti-Chiang factions to oppose Chiang Kai-shek's "National Government".He officially took office on September 9th. This new government seems to have deliberately chosen September 9th, the 19th year of the Republic of China at 9:00 a.m., an auspicious date, to announce its establishment.As they pointed out to Chiang Kai-shek, the word "nine" happens to be homonymous with "jiu" in Chinese. Young Marshal Zhang Xueliang seemed not interested in this symbolic meaning. He announced his support for the Nanjing government on September 18. Prior to this, both the "reorganization faction" and the Nanjing side tried their best to win his support.Zhang Xueliang's troops took over Beiping calmly, and the so-called "government" of the "reorganization faction" came to an end.This intervention made Zhang Xueliang the undisputed master of North China, and he was only 30 years old at the time.The territory he controls now extends from the northeast to Hebei, and Chiang Kai-shek also appointed him as the deputy commander-in-chief of China's army, navy and air force.But to some extent, he still has a strong sense of warlord. Chiang Kai-shek now once again had the political initiative. On October 10, 1930, he released a program that included "Eradication of Communism."The five tasks of rebuilding finances, implementing a clean and effective administration, developing the economy, and regional autonomy.Those frustrated leaders of the northern opposition, such as Wang Jingwei, Feng Yuxiang, Yan Xishan, etc. formally accepted this program and automatically announced their resignation. In mid-September, Chiang Kai-shek held a plenary meeting of the Central Executive Committee.At the meeting, he used a sarcastic tone to attack certain people in the Kuomintang for corruption, depravity, abuse of power, and corruption in the law, and said that all these made some new blood flow into the Communist camp. He also admitted that he himself had made mistakes (unspecified) and that some of his views had done damage to the country.Finally, he said that the time had come to convene a National Assembly to amend the Organic Act and formulate a permanent constitution. If Chiang Kai-shek thought he had now achieved undisputed status, he was wrong. He soon realized it himself.Hu Hanmin, the leader of the right wing of the Kuomintang, was very annoyed by the tirade Chiang Kai-shek had just published.Chiang Kai-shek wanted—or so he said he wanted—to expand the government's mass base, but Hu Hanmin didn't like it.Hu Hanmin believed that the KMT should maintain absolute control of the government, and that condemning the abuse of power (as Chiang Kai-shek did) within the party had gone far enough. In late February 1931, Jiang and Hu clashed fiercely at the Constitutional Convention.Hu Hanmin threatened to resign as president of the Legislative Yuan.His request to resign was rejected at the time, but the Central Executive Committee accepted his resignation a few days later. Then, Chiang Kai-shek immediately put Hu Hanmin under house arrest. Despite Hu Hanmin's apprehension, the "National Congress" held at Nanjing Central University on May 5, 1931 did not expand the mass base much.The 447 delegates who participated in the congress were all members of the Kuomintang, or non-Party persons designated by the Kuomintang.About 50 of the delegates were members of the Central Executive Committee, government advisers, ministers, and people in important positions of one kind or another, including Tibet's secular leader, the Panchen Lama. Marshal Zhang Xueliang was also one of the representatives, and Chiang Kai-shek delivered another bombastic speech to the representatives. Finally, the representatives announced their acceptance of Sun Yat-sen's program.The General Assembly officially announced that China had entered a period of "political training". On May 12, the General Assembly adopted the "Interim Constitution". On June 1, the "Interim Constitution" was announced to the whole country. Although Chiang Kai-shek's dictatorship at this time appeared to be more legitimate than before, some people immediately came out to challenge Chiang Kai-shek's authority. Various rebellions broke out in Guangzhou and the Ping-Han axis.Wang Jingwei once again announced the formation of an independent government in Guangzhou.To Chiang Kai-shek's dismay, Sun Ke and Chen Youren also joined this government. On July 31st, three people ambushed by the roadside in Nanchang and shot at Chiang Kai-shek's car, but they missed the target.After the three assassins were arrested, they confessed that they were sent by the Guangdong government. Japan launched an offensive into the northeast on September 18, 1931, just as China was clearly divided. The Chinese Communist Party also had serious internal divisions at this time. Two outstanding figures emerged in the Chinese communist movement: Mao Zedong and Li Lisan (Zhou Enlai had already shown his wit and flexibility at this time, and it was this combination of wit and flexibility that made him invincible in political struggles ground, but he is not the same type of leader as Mao Zedong and Li Lisan). At that time, Mao Zedong had not yet established a leadership position in the entire party, and he was not recognized by the Russians, and Li Lisan was elected as the general secretary at the Sixth National Congress of the Communist Party of China.The congress was held in Moscow.Like Mao Zedong, Li Lisan is also from Hunan, 7 years younger than Mao Zedong.The two of them had attended the same normal school, but the relationship between them was not harmonious.Li Lisan participated in a work-study program in France and entered Lyon University in 1919.Later, he went to Moscow after being expelled from Lyon University.His experience put him in a more favorable position than Mao Zedong in the party struggle, because the international communist movement was being led by the Communist International at that time. After the conclusion of the Sixth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the focus of the debate within the party was: whether the Chinese revolution should rely on urban workers (as Marxist-Leninist theory and Soviet leaders insisted) or on peasants (Mao Zedong regarded them as "in China's peasant-occupied absolute advantage in the agricultural country "true revolutionary force"). Although Li Lisan was a nationalist, he had no doubts about the correctness of Leninism or Stalin and his Politburo.He left Moscow in the spring of 1928 to return home. As soon as he returned to China, he began preparations for a city-based uprising.According to classical Marxist-Leninist theory, such an uprising would result in the Chinese Communist Party taking power in China. In the second half of 1928 and early 1929, due to the huge pressure from the Kuomintang army, Mao Zedong and his followers were forced to withdraw from the Jinggangshan base and moved to a larger territory at the junction of Jiangxi and Fujian.Mao and his colleagues worked to develop the Sovietized areas under their control, but Li Lisan directed Mao's Red Army to take Wuhan and other major cities. Although Mao Zedong believed that Li Lisan was directing blindly, his position made it difficult for him to openly defy Li. On July 27, 1930, the Red Army easily captured Changsha, a virtually undefended city.After occupying Changsha for 10 days, the Red Army was driven out again by the Kuomintang troops. Then the Red Army made one or two more reluctant attempts to attack the big cities.Due to the tight defense around the three towns of Wuhan, the Red Army could not approach the city at all.In all the major cities that Li Lier wanted to attack, the local Communist Party organizations suffered devastating blows. As a result, Li Lisan was accused of being a Trotskyite and was purged from the Politburo.In the end, he was taken to Moscow in disgrace, where he remained for many years and escaped the purges of Smalling. After the CCP's victory, he returned to China.Acknowledging his youthful mistakes, he was allowed back into politics and became labor minister in 1958.But during the "Cultural Revolution", he committed suicide after being provoked by Red Guards loyal to Mao Zedong. A major effect of the failed revolution of 1930 was that it vindicated Mao Zedong. At this time, Mao Zedong was no longer at the mercy of wrong decisions from above.He set out to create a Soviet system in the base areas. On November 7, 1931, Mao Zedong's career ushered in a peak.The Chinese Soviet Republic was proclaimed on this date (the date was chosen because it was the anniversary of the October Revolution). On November 27, Mao Zedong was elected Chairman of the Chinese Soviet Republic, Zhu De was elected Chairman of the Military Commission, and Zhou Enlai was elected Vice Chairman of the Military Commission. Of course Chiang Kai-shek could not tolerate this happening.In fact, before the Chinese Soviet Republic was proclaimed, he had launched three offensives in an attempt to drive the Communists out of the Jiangxi base. The first offensive was in October 1930.After defeating the army in Guangxi, the Kuomintang troops again attacked the Communists in Jiangxi in May 1931. In July 1931, Chiang Kai-shek personally commanded 300,000 people to attack the Soviet area again.Although the Kuomintang troops achieved some partial victories and caused some losses to the Red Army, all three of Chiang Kai-shek's so-called "encirclement and suppression campaigns" ended in the defeat of the Kuomintang.Chiang Kai-shek launched two more "encirclement and suppression campaigns" before the Red Army was forced to retreat from the base area in 1934 to embark on an epic long march. In the autumn of 1931, however, Chiang Kai-shek faced the frustrating situation in which the Communists had escaped, his own authority was still being challenged from within the Kuomintang, and the Japanese were attacking China.