Chapter 15 Chapter 15 Japan's All-round Invasion of China

Chiang Kai-shek developed a strategy called "Space for Time", following the strategy of Tsarist Russia's victory over Napoleon's invasion in 1812.His strategy was doomed to his failure after the end of the Anti-Japanese War. Stalin generously imparted the secret to Chiang Kai-shek.He summoned the Chinese ambassador, General Yang Jie, and asked him to convey to Chiang Kai-shek the secret to national unity: "Tell you Chairman, if he wants the people not to betray him during the war, he should be prepared to kill 4.5 million people. Otherwise, I don't think he will win the War of Resistance Against Japan."...But Chiang Kai-shek was determined. Not a bloodthirsty person.

The results of the Xi'an Incident were complex. The immediate result was a sense of reassurance that the KMT and the Communist Party were no longer at war, and both had made it clear that they wanted to put their differences aside. But the consequences of the Xi'an Incident were far more than that.It is almost certain that the Xi'an Incident hastened the pace of Japan's all-out war against China.As long as Chiang Kai-shek made it clear that the elimination of the Communists was his top strategic task, the Japanese would continue to slowly and calmly pursue their policy of coercion and annexation.But after the Xi'an Incident, it can be clearly seen that Chiang Kai-shek's strategic order has changed. A Japanese military brochure from November 1936 described in detail the process of the Red Army's Long March and predicted that government troops would soon unite with the Red Army.At the beginning of the second year, the Japanese also noticed that 1,000 young people went to Yan'an Anti-Japanese Military and Political University to study, and a large number of Beijing students signed up to join the 29th Army.Seeing these situations, the Japanese military decided to speed up the process of their war of aggression against China.

"I really believe that the Communist Party has repented," Chiang Kai-shek wrote many years later, "and they sincerely expressed their willingness to join forces with other forces in China to fight against Japan. In addition, even in the military operations against the Communist Party, I also put them Seen as Chinese and hope they will eventually be loyal to our country again," Chiang Kai-shek regretted his decision later, because he believed that when he was captured in Xi'an, the Communist Party had already suffered a severe blow, and just launching another "communist suppression" campaign would be enough to eliminate the Communist Party.

Of course, he was out of control by then, and he could not hope to gain broad support in the Civil War when he refused to resist the Japanese.But it was true that the Kuomintang had a great military advantage at that time. In the following years, he always believed that the reconciliation with the Communist Party after the Xi'an Incident was a big mistake, and this reconciliation caused the failure in 1949. On February 10, 1937, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China sent a telegram to the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang, proposing the following five principles:

1. Stop all civil wars and concentrate the power of the whole country against Japanese aggression 2. Guarantee freedom of speech and release all political prisoners. 3. Convening meetings of all parties and all walks of life.The armies meet together to fight against Japan and save the country. 4. Quickly complete all preparations for the War of Resistance against Japan. 5. Improve people's lives. The telegram stated that if the Nanking government accepted the above point of view, the Communist Party would abide by the following five guarantees: 1. Stop the policy of armed insurrection to overthrow the national government.

2. The Soviet government of the Communist Party of China was dissolved and renamed the "SAR Government". 3. A universal democratic system shall be practiced within the SAR government area. 4. Stop the policy of confiscating land from landlords. 5. The Red Army accepts the guidance of the Nanjing Military Commission. It was not in Chiang Kai-shek's character to accept these proposals as the Communist Party advocated. To do so was to lose face for the Generalissimo, since the Communist Party publicly stated that Chiang Kai-shek had more or less agreed to these conditions in Sian (under duress).

When the telegram from the Communist Party was sent to the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang, they were holding a plenary meeting.As a result of the meeting, a so-called "Eradication of the Red Plague" was passed 11 days later.The following is the content of this resolution recorded by Chiang Kai-shek himself: 1. The organization and leadership of the national armed forces must be unified so that they can be effectively controlled and operated effectively, and the coexistence of armed forces with completely different political beliefs is not allowed.Therefore, the so-called Red Army and its units under various names should be completely disbanded.

2. The unity of political power is a prerequisite for national unity.The simultaneous existence of two hostile governments is not permitted.Therefore, the so-called Soviet regime and other organizations detrimental to unity should be completely disbanded. 3. Communism and the Three People's Principles are completely opposite, and only the Three People's Principles can save China.Communism is against the interests of the Chinese people, against their chances of survival and their way of life.Therefore, its activities must be stopped. 4. Class wars are based on the interests of a certain class.

It divides society into many classes, making them hostile and quarreling with each other. It requires the means of war or resort to armed uprisings in order to control other groups, resulting in social chaos and the misery of the people.Therefore, class struggle must cease. Stalin lifted the long-standing embargo on the return of Chiang Kai-shek's son, Chiang Ching-kuo, as the two parties were about to cooperate and, in fact, form a united front. Just a few months ago, Chiang Ching-kuo put loyalty to the Soviet government above filial piety to his parents, and denounced Chiang Kai-shek in a way that was not in line with Chinese character.

In April 1937, he returned home, bringing with him his Russian wife.He had been away from home for twelve years, and Chiang Kai-shek was deeply worried about his son's long-term influence of Stalinism, so he began to re-educate Chiang Ching-kuo. Chiang Ching-kuo described his father's demands on him in his book "My Father": After I returned to China, my father felt that I should read General Zeng Guofan's "letter from home". …[Zeng Guofan suppressed the Taiping Rebellion] My father thinks that what Zeng Guofan taught his son is also useful to us.Every time I write a letter to my father, if he doesn't have time to give me a meaningful answer, he will ask me to read a letter from Zeng Guofan's family.

My father also kept sending me books he had just read.There are many his own commentaries in the book, and the important places are underlined. Given that I was a child when I went abroad and lived in a foreign country for too long, my father worried that I lacked a deep understanding of Chinese moral philosophy and national spirit.He especially taught me to read Dr. Sun Yat-sen's book. In a letter to me on May 12, 1937, my father said: "In the future, when you study, you should pay more attention to Chinese morality, national spirit and philosophy. Sun Wen's (Sun Yat-sen) political theory is the foundation of Chinese philosophy. It is impossible to discuss in detail in a foreign language translation, especially the Russian version abandons the essence of the original book. Therefore, you should read Sun Yat-sen's political theory twice before proceeding to study the Three People's Principles, of course, all in Chinese .You should also put your comments on paper and wait for my review. In the chapter on people's livelihood, the criticism of Marxism is particularly important".In addition to studying the Three Principles of the People and books of a similar nature, my father also directed me to read extensively in classical and historical books, as well as works by Chinese philosophers. Not only that, but my father also asked me to reread the books I had read and keep many good parts in mind. When Chiang Kai-shek used these words to educate his son, Chiang Ching-kuo was already twenty-nine years old, and he was already married.But this father is making up for lost time, and he feels there is a lot of unfortunate education that should be swept away. For several weeks in early 1937, Chiang Kai-shek was still in severe pain from the trauma to his back from the escape from the Xi'an Incident.However, with the help of an orthotic, he began rehabilitation exercises, and soon he could preside over the preparations for the resistance against Japan. In the spring of 1937, China's regular army totaled 1,700,000 men, 59 warships with a gross tonnage of 15,288 tons, and an air force that claimed to have 200 first-class aircraft. Around this time, Chiang Kai-shek appointed Captain Chennault, a retired American pilot, as his Air Force advisor.Chennault had an opportunity to see the planes that were introduced to him, and he immediately declared that only 91 of them were indeed "top-notch." Chennault was a rough, tough, dedicated and bigoted man (so said both for and against him) who had been fired from the US Air Force for being deaf.It was 1936, and he was forty-six.So he found an opportunity to work in China.For a period of time, Chennault played a major role in China's preparations for war. However, he was unable to create a miracle at a certain moment and contain the first round of attacks by the Japanese invaders. From then on, the key to the rapid deterioration of the situation came from Tokyo.In Tokyo, the military bloc is growing stronger.The military is not in favor of waiting any longer to launch an offensive until China's new "united front" is consolidated.Their policy is to go on the offensive now and negotiate later. Japanese soldiers still remember that in 1905 their ancestors had taught Tsarist Russia a military lesson: they believed that Japan and the Soviet Union would soon have another showdown, and when the Soviet Union had time to build up its military strength, it would play Japan’s traditional role in East Asia again. Therefore, they believe that it makes sense to start the war against China as soon as possible, so that they can have this strategic base when attacking the Soviet Union. But the Japanese military also wanted to give politicians and diplomats one last chance to make the Chinese understand what they were thinking.Kawagoe, the Japanese ambassador to Nanjing, took pains to remind Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Chonghui to pay attention to the "Three Hirota Principles". Hirota was the foreign minister of Japan at the time. He proposed: (1) Completely ban China's anti-Japanese speech and actions; (2) Sign the Sino-Japanese Anti-Communist Military Agreement; (3) Implement "economic cooperation" between Japan, "Manchuria" and China. Although the Kuomintang and the Communist Party had not lost their differences some time ago, they had already had close contacts at this time.KMT officials went to northern Shaanxi for talks with the Communist Party, while Zhou Enlai went to Lushan to visit Chiang Kai-shek. At the end of April, Kawagoe returned home to report to the government.The Japanese cabinet listened to his account of an important meeting on May 10, 1937 and his own views on it, and then announced that Japan would officially send three divisions to mainland China.This clearly shows Japan's intentions. On the 19th, Prime Minister Lu Sugiyama publicly accused China of being "overconfident" and adopting an attitude of "insulting Japan".Five days later, Foreign Minister Naotake Sato announced that if Japan's prestige and dignity were damaged, Japan would have no choice but to war. Faced with rising tensions, Chiang Kai-shek secretly dispatched his son Chiang Ching-kuo to Shaanxi to negotiate with Zhou Enlai on the reorganization of the Communist Party so that the Nanking government could grant it legal status. On June 5, a more belligerent cabinet than previous governments came to power in Tokyo. When Hirota returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he announced that the "Three Hirota Principles" he had concocted in 1935 were no longer applicable. Obviously, Japan is waiting for an "accident", or is preparing to make one. Whether the Japanese planned it or not, on July 7th, which was Tuesday, an accident occurred.That night, the Japanese army conducted military exercises with Wanping City as an imaginary target.Wanping is a small walled city near the Marco Polo Bridge, 15 miles southeast of Peiping.The Japanese claimed that one of their soldiers was missing and wanted to get him back.The commander of the Chinese garrison replied that he knew nothing about the matter. According to the Chinese, the Japanese opened fire later; according to the Japanese, the Chinese fired first, but that doesn't matter.The Japanese soldiers have now found the "accident" and they will take full advantage of it.Within six days, 20,000 Japanese troops were deployed in the Beiping area. For Chiang Kai-shek, everything was clear and the Second Sino-Japanese War began. On July 17, at a meeting in Lushan, the Generalissimo pointed out that peace was in the hands of the Japanese, saying: "We seek peace, but we cannot obtain it at all costs. We do not want to wage war, but we can be Forced to defend." Chiang Kai-shek handed over the peace terms to the Japanese government, which was of a counterattack nature. Japan should admit that it was responsible for the war in North China, and the government should come forward to apologize and compensate for the losses. On July 18th, Chiang Kai-shek declared at Lushan that China would take four principles as the minimum conditions for peace: (1) Any solution shall not violate China's sovereignty and territorial integrity; (2) The status quo of the administrative organization in the Hebei-Chahar region cannot be changed illegally; (3) Officials sent by the central government cannot be replaced at the request of others; (4) The area where the 29th Army is currently stationed cannot be subject to any restrictions (in the Beiping area). In response, the Japanese army repeatedly launched attacks on Chinese fortified cities. On July 29, when the Chinese "peace defense forces" counterattacked in Tianjin, Japan bombed indiscriminately with planes.They then attacked and occupied the city and Peiping, announcing that they had entered the city to "protect" the people. Now that war has broken out, Chiang Kai-shek will exercise the leadership of the country.In a report to the nation, he announced that his government would lead the country "to the bitter end". In the north, too, the Communists had expressed resistance to Japanese aggression.The Communist Party's line was discussed repeatedly, and it was determined at an important meeting in Luochuan in August 1937.At that time, Mao Zedong did not yet fully control the party.The delegates attending the meeting reached a consensus on the final battle against Japan. In the "Luochuan Statement", the Communist Party called for the defeat of Japanese imperialism and the end of the war; mobilization and arming of the people of the whole country; establishment of guerrilla forces; eradication of traitors; freedom of movement for all political parties; Eliminate corruption, collect taxes from local governments, oppose speculation, simplify the tax system, and improve people's living standards. The "statement" stated that the Communist Party will cooperate with the Kuomintang to form an anti-Japanese national united front. On August 21, representatives of the Soviet Union and the Nanjing government signed the "Non-Aggression Pact" in Nanjing, and on September 23, a statement by the KMT marked the official formation of the new alliance between the KMT and the Communist Party. This important document is the result of a series of changes made by both sides over ideological differences, concessions made by both sides because they are both Chinese. On July 15, the Communist Party handed over a manifesto to the Kuomintang.But the KMT did not immediately publish. On the 19th, according to Feng Yuxiang, Chiang Kai-shek, Zhou Enlai, and some senior officials met in Lushan, and it was said that the Chairman of the General Assembly recognized the regime established by the Communist Party in some anti-Japanese frontline areas.Afterwards, until the release of the "Luochuan Statement" on August 15, both sides remained silent.On September 22, the Kuomintang suddenly issued the Communist Party’s manifesto on July 15, and then affirmed this manifesto in its statement the next day.At least in the document, the Communist Party is willing to make concessions they have previously refused to make.The Declaration enumerates three goals and recognizes four obligations. The three goals are: 1. Launch the Anti-Japanese War, regain lost ground, and fight for independence, freedom, and national liberation. 2. Establish a democracy. 3. Improve people's living standards. The four obligations that the Communist Party is willing to undertake are: 1. Implement Sun Yat-sen's Three People's Principles. 2. Stop using violence to overthrow the Kuomintang's rule and stop confiscating land from landlords. 3. Reorganize the government in the areas occupied by the Red Army and make it a democratic government in the anti-Japanese frontline areas. 4. The Red Army was renamed the National Revolutionary Army and accepted the leadership of the Kuomintang Military Committee. The Nationalist government took note of these commitments.It declared: "The will of the nation is above all else." Both Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong had long contemplated the situation facing them and their country. Both men had their own plans and strategies, but Mao Zedong saw farther than Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang Kai-shek's strategy was one of survival for China, for his government, and for himself.On the other hand, Mao Zedong thought of seeking development in the war against Japan so that he could become the victor at the end of the war. His strategy was a strategy to achieve the final political victory.On this point, Jiang and Mao are different. Chiang Kai-shek, so impressed by Tsarist Russia's triumphant crushing of Napoleon's invasion in 1812, developed a strategy known as "space for time."When the enemy attacked, the central army retreated, implementing a scorched-earth policy, leaving areas without food and shelter to the aggressors, without seeking a quick decisive battle.In this way, Japan will be deeply plunged into the vast interior of China. At a certain time, the Japanese army's front will be overextended, and its lines of communication will reach and exceed the maximum of its logistical supplies. Chiang believed that when the Japanese army, which had invaded China in an all-out way, was exhausted and mentally broken by the endless wars, the time for a decisive battle had come. From the perspective of the balance of power between the aggressors and the anti-aggressors, Chiang Kai-shek’s strategy was meaningful—but militarily, psychologically, and politically, his strategy doomed him to failure after the War of Resistance ended. While he was making great strides in his military retreat, the Communist Party launched activities in the vast occupied areas, showing their patriotic heroism by harassing the Japanese army.Through insightful reforms in areas they controlled, even far from the anti-Japanese front lines, the Communist Party gathered the people under its own banner and "felt like a duck in water" among the people (Words from Mao Zedong's Quotations). It is doubtful that Chiang Kai-shek thought of this.He always wanted to destroy the Communists before dealing with the Japanese, and he could declare himself infallible later on.But the social and strategic timing Mao clearly foresaw lay outside his political vision. He believed that if the War of Resistance was victorious, he would achieve political victory in an atmosphere of glory and victory, and his strength would greatly exceed that of the Communist Party.But he could hardly have foreseen that Japan would surrender with Stalin's troops in control of the northeast.Nor did he foresee possible inclinations of the Americans against him because of the prevailing conditions in China.He even more could not have foreseen that Mao Zedong would create an invincible peasant army, an army with strong political overtones, eager for the early collapse of the Kuomintang. But those are for later.At this time, the reality faced was the brutal Japanese attack. In the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, Peiping and Tianjin fell rapidly.Chiang Kai-shek decided to give up Huahua, and his main force will be concentrated on the Yangtze River.He was determined to make the Japanese army pay the price for occupying every piece of land except North China. For moral and political reasons, Chiang Kai-shek was determined to go against all odds, and decided not only to defend Shanghai, but also to actively seek opportunities for war. Militarily, this decision made no sense and was also opposed by the German military advisers. Everyone knows that the Chinese army with backward weapons and equipment will be bombed by Japanese aircraft with advanced weapons.It was indeed a major strategic error: he risked some of his best troops instead of saving strength for the more important campaigns that no doubt would arise later. This is military common sense, but Chiang Kai-shek wanted to show the Japanese and the world that he was not making an easy choice.Japan must be made to understand that this time is different from the previous military aggression in 1931; what they are facing is the resistance of the entire Chinese people. The battle to defend Shanghai began on August 8, 1937 and ended on November 8. After three months of massacres, the Chinese army paid the price of hundreds of thousands of casualties, and the exact number is unknown; the losses of the Japanese army were Sixty thousand casualties.The fighting took place five miles from the concession area, and most of the fighting took place in Chinese residential areas.One day, a Chinese pilot was about to attack a Japanese strategic ship parked at a wharf on the Huangpu River. Because he misjudged the target, he dropped a bomb on the crowded commercial area of ​​the concession, killing more than a thousand people. In the decisive battle in Songhu, three dignitaries were killed or injured.One of them was the British ambassador Xu Gesen, who was traveling in a car from Nanking to Shanghai when a Japanese pilot shot him in the spine with a machine gun, and the other was Chiang's wife Soong Mei-ling, when his driver evacuated his car from an enemy attack. She was seriously injured when she pulled to the side of the road.With her was W. H. Turner, who was also badly wounded. During the Battle of Shanghai, the Chairman kept in constant telephone contact with every general.He sleeps on and off for an average of three or four hours every night, and he also visits the front line twice.Finally, the Japanese encircled the Chinese army from the south, causing the Chinese army to completely retreat and retreat to Nanjing in a chaotic manner. Although the battle ended in failure, it shocked the Japanese invaders.It shows the world that the Chinese can fight to the death to defend their homeland. In a talk given by New York Times reporter Thiel Deding on November 9, Chiang Kai-shek warned: "The enemy does not realize that China's territory is inviolable. China is invincible. As long as it survives enemy aggression There is a free Chinese land, and the national government will always be supreme." A few days later, a press tea party was suddenly interrupted by a Japanese air raid, and foreign reporters described how Chiang Kai-shek walked into the garden and watched strangely as the bombs fell beside him.Physical fear had never been a characteristic of his character. The Japanese landed in Hangzhou Bay and outflanked and drove the Chinese troops out of Shanghai. When the Japanese landed, they took many collapsible boats to transport reinforcements through Taihu Lake, an inland lake in Suzhou-it is Shanghai and Nanking. natural line of defense.The rapid advance of the Japanese army to Nanjing, the capital of the Nationalist government, shocked the whole country.Chiang Kai-shek and his wife left Nanjing on December 7, two days before the arrival of the Japanese army.Before leaving, he paid homage to the Sun Yat-Sen Mausoleum on the hillside according to the symbolic etiquette he favored, and vowed to fight to the end to realize Dr. Sun's ideal.Later he established a provisional government in Hankou. The Nanjing defenders persisted for two days.Two days later, in the face of continuous Japanese air raids, Nanjing fell after the Japanese entered the outer city on the 11th.With a frantic desire to kill, the Japanese army frantically burned, killed, raped, and looted under the indulgence of their commander Tani Hisao, and as many as 100,000 Chinese soldiers and civilians were massacred.World public opinion was outraged, and even the Japanese cabinet felt it necessary to recall Hisao Tani back to the country. The first five months of the Second Sino-Japanese War were marked not only by disastrous military defeats, including the fall of the Chinese capital, but also by major diplomatic disappointments. Chiang Kai-shek had counted on the help of Western democracies, but none of them were willing to help him. This was the era when Europe was implementing the policy of appeasement, and it was also being implemented by the United States. In the era of "isolationism", on October 6, the US State Department stated that Japan's behavior in China was a violation of the 1928 Kellogg-Briand Agreement and the 1922 Nine-Power Pact.However, the U.S. has not provided aid to China, and privately owned U.S. steel scrap continues to be shipped to Japan.The League of Nations also condemned Japan, but to no avail. A meeting of nations held in Brussels on November 15 decided to indefinitely suspend the Nine-Power Pact in the Sino-Japanese dispute.Japan is well aware of the pacifist nature of Western public opinion, so it adopted the method of not declaring war on China, taking advantage of loopholes in international law, and putting countries in a moral dilemma. Britain sold Chiang Kai-shek several planes but refused to supply guns at the same time.Australia refused to use a Boeing plane sent to the United States to communicate with China, and the British and Americans were so determined not to be involved in Chinese affairs that they were indifferent to the unusual provocation of the Japanese. A British steamer was sunk by Japanese bombs, and the Ladybug was hit by artillery fire from the shore.Then there was the infamous "Pane Incident", in which an American gunboat "Pane" was sunk by the Japanese Air Force on December 4.Japanese planes flew low and machine-gunned survivors trying to escape in rowboats, killing three and injuring 17. The attitude of the Germans was ambiguous. In November 1936, Germany signed the Anti-Comintern Pact, but the German military training team still served in Chiang Kai-shek's troops. At the end of November 1937, the Japanese approached the German ambassador to China, Tautman, and asked him to pass on Japan's conditions for ending the war to Chiang Kai-shek. On December 3, Chiang Kai-shek received Ambassador Taudman in Nanjing.He didn't believe in the Japanese conditions at all, but he listened without saying a word.Japan demands recognition of "Manchukuo"; establishment of a demilitarized zone; cooperation between China and the anti-Comintern bloc; economic agreement between China, Japan and "Manchukuo"; changes in tariff barriers; China's "necessary compensation" to Japan Wait.Chiang Kai-shek stated that he was not interested in these conditions. At any rate, when the Japanese approached Nanking, the Germans withdrew, thinking at that time that they would soon be able to impose a coercive peace on China. There is only one big country that can help China when it needs it, and that is the Soviet Union. The non-aggression pact of August 21, in fact, paved the way for the Soviet Union to aid China, just like the second cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. Stalin was no more willing to get involved in the conflict in China than the heads of Western powers, but he was fully aware of Japan's plans to attack the Soviet Far East, so he wanted Chiang Kai-shek to wear down Japanese forces as much as possible.Chiang Kai-shek learned of Stalin's intentions through the Chinese ambassador to Moscow, General Yang Jie, and sent his close friend, former Minister of Education Chen Lifu, to Moscow to discuss an arms deal. At the beginning of 1938, Soviet Russia loaned 100 million US dollars to China.Soon thereafter, Soviet arms and equipment were transported overland through Central Asia to Chiang Kai-shek's troops.In return, China shipped tungsten, wool and tea to the Soviet Union within the stipulated period. In July 1939, the Soviet Union once again loaned China US$ 150 million.The Soviet Union also sent five Soviet planes with pilots to strengthen China's air defense. After the failure of the mediation efforts of the German ambassador Tautman, the German military training corps withdrew, and some people stayed on voluntarily in their own names. A large number of members of the Soviet military delegation came to China - about 500 people, including generals who would later become famous in the Second World War: Zhukov and Khokov. At that time, the "elimination of counter-revolutionaries" in the Soviet Union was in full swing. At the end of December, Stalin generously passed on his experience to Chiang Kai-shek. He summoned the Chinese ambassador, General Yang Jie, and asked him to convey to Chiang Kai-shek the secret of national unity: "Tell you Chairman, if he wants the people not to betray him during the war, he should be prepared to kill 4.5 million people. Otherwise, I don't think he will win the War of Resistance Against Japan." He explained: In the Soviet Union, any suspect was immediately arrested and sent to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.Once inside the Ministry of Internal Affairs, there were only two paths: either Siberia or hell. Despite his occasional merciless displays, Chiang Kai-shek was by no means a bloodthirsty man. Before long, however, he became interested in punishment, and he found quick execution a daunting form of punishment. Shandong warlord Han Fuju led his troops to withdraw from Shandong because he did not obey the order of the chairman, and gave Shandong to the Japanese.The Generalissimo ordered his arrest, sent him to court for sentencing, and executed him on January 24.In the same month, nine other officers were shot and 30 officers were dismissed on suspicion of treachery. But other warlords were reused and played important roles in the war, including Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang, Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi, who also served as chief of the general staff.Especially Feng Yuxiang, who profited from Han Fuju's death by taking Han's niece as a concubine—later Mrs. Feng Yuxiang kicked her out of the family. After the fall of Nanking, Chiang Kai-shek relinquished all his administrative positions, and he resigned as the Premier, to be succeeded by Kong Xiangxi. Since then, at least for a while, he has decided to concentrate on some military campaigns. Some of these battles were won.For example, in Bazhuang in the south of Shandong, the Japanese army suffered the first heavy blow in a direct war in the modern sense, losing 42,000 people.During the Battle of Zhengzhou, the Kuomintang used explosives to blow up the embankment of the Yellow River, causing the river to flood, several thousand Japanese soldiers were drowned, and the flood also swallowed many Japanese cannons and other equipment. But many innocent people also perished in the flood—how many were lost is unknown.Chiang Kai-shek's man-made floods submerged 11 cities and 4,000 villages, and a total of 20 million peasants were forced to leave their homes. It was events like these that kept millions of obscure peasants away from Kuomintang rule and warmly welcomed the Chinese Communist Party. Although Chiang Kai-shek had resigned from his day-to-day administrative duties, he wanted confirmation of his supreme leadership. From March 29 to April 2, 1938, the KMT convened an interim national congress in Hankow, duly granting him this power.He is elected as the leader (president) of the party and has the final say on all KMT decisions. He needed a vice president, and without hesitation chose his counterpart, Wang Jingwei, who was talented and unreliable, but it was safer for him to hold public office and accept leadership than to let him loose and plot. The Hankou period lasted until the end in October 1938, and foreign observers personally reported the most glorious stage in the history of the Kuomintang.Faced with the threat of death and the pressure of a powerful enemy's invasion, a consistent harmony and unity was achieved in the chaos, and some writers, journalists, and talented experts came to this industrial city that temporarily served as the capital to do their part in the war of resistance force.The KMT and the Communist Party work hand in hand, cooperating on domestic affairs and military planning. Chiang Kai-shek himself lived in Wuchang and took a ferry across the river every morning to his government offices in Hankow. An air raid on his own house killed ten of his guards and forced him to abandon his old pastime: walking the streets, lights or no guards, while an unusual foreign correspondent was being called. The reception, possibly by a certain reporter, revealed the situation to the Japanese, which made Chiang Kai-shek reluctant to receive any foreign reporters for several months. The war brought huge economic losses and chaos to China. Prior to this, the Chinese economy had achieved some results despite the constant civil wars and natural disasters. Chinese capitalism has produced a thriving textile and consumer goods industry, mainly in Shanghai and other coastal cities.But heavy industry hardly existed, and when the war broke out total steel production did not exceed 100,000 tons per year.Before the war began, Chiang Kai-shek summoned his well-known and capable Minister of Economic Affairs, Dr. Weng Wen (氵ying), and asked him to work out a plan for the complete transfer of factories and industries. Weng Wen (氵颖) was affable, hard working, and very clean, and at some point he completed the plan, and the Great Transfer began as soon as the Japanese attacked in July 1937. Shanghai entrepreneurs and businessmen moved slowly, hoping to protect their property, and only 14,000 tons of equipment could be moved before Shanghai fell.Machines from the modern Shanghai Machine Works and other factories were loaded into rowboats, covered with leaves and branches, and shipped up the Yangtze River.As soon as the Japanese aircraft appeared, they immediately camouflaged the ship with reeds.Elsewhere, the transfer of equipment was swift and productive. In western Sichuan Province, thousands of miles away from the eastern region, factories and iron and steel plants were reassembled, and some equipment factories were hidden in caves. Primary and secondary schools and universities were also moved to the west. By the autumn of 1939, 40,000 people were registered in universities. —more than 8,000 more than in the last school year before the war.The preservation of essential strength and equipment was an encouraging victory. After the fall of Nanking in December 1937, the Japanese offensive was suspended, and they hoped that Chiang Kai-shek would surrender soon. When they found that Chiang Kai-shek showed no sign of giving up resistance, they launched a new offensive.As the Japanese penetrated deep into the interior of China, millions of ordinary Chinese crowded the roads ahead of their arrival in the largest migration ever seen.Macau and Suzhou lost in May. In June, Kaifeng and Anqing fell. At the same time, in a distant place, the Japanese army decided to tentatively attack the Soviet Far East Army. On December 7, 1938, the Japanese ambassador to the Soviet Union demanded that Soviet troops withdraw from North Korea and the border area between the Soviet Union and China, declaring that this area should belong to "Manchuria."In the ensuing military conflict, the Japanese were first victorious and then repulsed on August 11. For Chiang Kai-shek, symbolically and psychologically, there could be no worse news than the unfortunate fall of the revolutionary city of Guangzhou on October 21.Relentless enemy bombardment killed 3,000 people before the city fell. Four days later.Hankow, the temporary capital, fell.On October 25th, Chiang Kai-shek delivered a speech in which he said: "Although the enemy temporarily occupied Wuhan, it took them eleven months and resulted in tens of thousands of casualties. What they occupied was a piece of scorched earth and an empty city …From now on, we will be fully engaged in the resistance movement.” Chiang Kai-shek had wanted to establish a temporary headquarters in Yueyang, which was located between Wuchang and Changsha, but he found that the city was on fire and the flames used to create scorched earth were spreading.He thought it too early to destroy the city, so he brought two high-ranking officers to court and shot them (sic—translator). Relying on the weak air force, the Chinese are almost powerless in the face of the continuous Japanese air strikes.However, on February 24, 1938, the Chinese Air Force shot down four Japanese planes over Taipei, Taiwan. On May 20, large Chinese monoplanes dropped many leaflets on Japan, indicating that the Japanese did not need to avoid the Chinese air strikes, and the Chinese did not wantonly massacre peaceful residents like the Japanese. 这一年不仅对后退的中国人，而且对进攻的日本人来说也是艰苦的一年，霍乱和疾病使日本人损失惨重。 但是，在1938年底，日本就宣布他们占领了有1．7亿人口的150万平方公里的中国土地。 日本还令人难以置信地宣布，作为死亡5万日军的代价，80万中国人在战争中被打死。此后，日本停止了大的攻势。第二年，日本也没有进一步的大规模的军事行动。在这种形势出现后不久，国民党政府在重庆安顿下来。他们的军队现在和海上断绝了联系，除了苏联的援助物资取道陆路从中亚和缅甸公路运进之外，他们完全处于战略上的孤立状态。 对于蒋介石的“大撤退”，日本军事战略作家末至磨在他七十年代的著作《日本的血腥战争》中有这样的描写： 尽管中国军队由于武器落后、缺少训练而遭受重大损失，他们仍然拥有七百万一线作战力量，不断骚扰日军，使他们疲惫不堪。 实际上，使日军很头疼的是中国军队“以撤退代替进攻”的战略。虽然存在着区域性的战斗和小规模冲突，但是一般说来，中国军队是以撤退（而不是进攻）来达到他们的战略目的。 中国领土“广阔而纵深”，中国军队行动迅速。 疲乏的日军迫不上他们，特别是在供应线经常被切断之后。 正因为如此，中国军队的主力一直没有遭受决定性的打击。日军几乎是顺利地占领了城市、据点和铁路……但他们要照顾如此之大的地盘，这无疑是一种失败。 从中国军队的角度来讲，这当然并不是一种胜利；但从另一方面讲，也不是一个失败。中国人使战争向内地发展，从而在那里展开决战。 日本军队的传统战略是突破敌人的前线，把敌人劈成两半，进行迂回包抄和各个击破。但是这种战略对中国军队是没有用处的，因为在日军突破之前，他们就会转移到另外一个阵地。从技术上讲，中国军人很有灵活性。 那时，有人建议日军应该缩小战区，主要驻守华北、南京和上海。 但中国军队遵守“撤退代替进攻”的原则；一旦日军撤退，他们就进行追击……结果，在这个有广阔土地的国家，一场战略对峙持续了四年半。 当太平洋战争爆发时，包括死于战时疾病的人，日军人员损失已达115万人。 这份日本人的叙述有助于纠正这时侵华日军的声明，虽然作者错误地估计蒋介石想在内地进行“决战”。 这年年底，日本人又进行进一步的“和平”试探，这一次是由首相近卫在12月22日发表公开讲话。他声称：中国正在为“新生” 作准备，它现在可以加入新的东亚经济秩序。 这月初，早已和日本人有秘密接触的汪精卫企图说服蒋介石接受日本的条件。他做过两次努力，一次是在12月9日国民党中央政务会的一次会议上，另一次看来是16日他和蒋介石之间的一次情绪激动的私人会谈。 汪精卫的一个同伙陈公博后来披露，汪精卫曾两次很信任地对他谈了自己的想法，时间是1938年11月月初和月底。 在第一次谈话中，汪精卫告诉他：和日本人媾和的机会正在丧失。从谈话的内容中可以清楚地看出蒋介石对此一无所知。汪还补充说，一旦时机成熟，他将离开重庆。 第二次，汪精卫通过一份电报要求陈公博从重庆到达成都，他告诉陈：中日之间和平的时机已经成熟。日本首相公布了下列原则： 1、承认“满洲国”。 2、在内蒙古签订双边反共产国际协定。 3、在华北进行经济合作。 4、废除外国特权和领事裁判权。 5、双方互不赔偿损失。 如果中国同意这些原则，日本将在两年内撤军。1938年12月20日，汪精卫离开重庆，假装到昆明去，但在烧掉自己的船后，他到了法属印度支那的河内。 在汪精卫的出走中，有一个让人迷惑不解的地方。 根据冯玉祥的说法，汪精卫的妻子两周前就带着全家和行李乘飞机离开了。那时，出入重庆的交通全部控制在军统局戴笠手里。普通的乘机旅行者要先登记，经过审查和批准，而高级官员则需要蒋介石本人的批准。 既然汪精卫和他的随员乘机去了昆明，在他离开之前戴笠怎能不向蒋介石报告呢？汪精卫不可能乘飞机“溜出”昆明，如果蒋介石想截住他一定会成功。 因此，后来没人能接受这种说法，即蒋介石本人对汪精卫要在南京建立一个傀儡政府的最后计划一无所知。 1939年1月1日，国民党中央委员会决定开除汪精卫。 在此前不久，即1938年12月26日，蒋介石拒绝了日本的条件，他反驳道：“日本强加给中国的所谓'新生'，实际意味着一个独立主权的中国的灭亡和一个受奴役的中国的出现。所谓的'新秩序'的前提是中国沦为奴隶国家，并和日本一手炮制的'满洲国'拴在一起。” 在对峙中，悲惨的一年过去了，但是，更多的考验即将到来。