Chapter 23 The third section is more militaristic than the old warlords

After the titular reunification, Chiang Kai-shek, though aloof and controlling the only legitimate central government, the Nanking government, was in fact no more than a vassal occupying the southeastern provinces.He looked around China at that time, from south to north, besides him, there were five power centers: Li Jishen in Guangzhou, Li Zongren in Wuhan, Feng Yuxiang in Kaifeng, Yan Xishan in Beiping, and Zhang Xueliang in Shenyang.This situation of separatist regimes within the Kuomintang was more or less assisted by Jiang.In order to establish his personal military power, he did not hesitate to attack the party's prestige repeatedly, and even denied the Wuhan Party Central Committee and set up the Nanjing Central Committee instead, setting a precedent for the military leadership within the Kuomintang.In order to complete the Northern Expedition as soon as possible, he did not hesitate to accommodate the remnants of the warlords, and compromised with the military leaders of various factions, promising territory and other political and economic benefits, and finally resulted in the replacement of the old Beiyang warlords by the new Kuomintang warlords.

To make matters worse, after the completion of the Northern Expedition, in terms of military achievements, no matter how Chiang Kai-shek's first group army was deployed, it would inevitably be the last of the four group armies with "regret".Claiming to be number one, but actually being number four, if you are rewarded for meritorious service, if you want to use the first group army to dominate the other armies, it will be difficult to convince the crowd. In addition to "merits", Jiang's "virtue" is even more unbearable. Even Wu Zhihui, a buffoon who has always helped Jiang carry the sedan chair, said in private: "Mr. Naturally arrogant.” ("Memoirs of Li Zongren", pages 394-395) "The Yellow Robe Adding Body" is the story of Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin. Virtue and futility are all about the word "fear", that is, knowing the principle of being cautious, gradually releasing military power with a cup of wine, emphasizing civility and suppressing martial arts, so that the world will be calm.If Chiang Kai-shek has a heart of prudence and fear, he should face the reality, recognize the division of power between the central and local governments, and build on the basis of inter-provincial self-government, so as to avoid war disasters, peaceful construction, and gradually complete true national unification.However, he has no virtue, no merit, and no fear, so he is "supercilious" and brazenly wants to conquer all dissidents by force in order to fulfill his impatient desire to centralize power. lead to the Central Plains War.The length of the battle, the brutality of the killing, the severity of the destruction, and the suffering of the people were all unprecedented in the era of the Beiyang warlords.

Before Jiang used force, he had already made a series of moves.On June 9, 1928, seeing that the Northern Expedition was about to be completed, he suddenly announced his resignation from various positions in the party, government and army. There were two motives. Second, he wants to "lead by example" and induce all military leaders to follow suit, such as the so-called "military power will be transferred to the government from now on" in the resignation message, so as to cut down the vassal after the war.But after this scene was played, it was only one of them.Sure enough, telegrams were sent from the central government to the local government to invite Jiang to stay in his post. Jiang then rescinded his resignation on June 17 and must be held accountable to the end.Three days later, it was deployed to change Zhili to Hebei and Beijing to Beiping, and appointed new personnel to reduce Yan Xishan's power, forcing Yan to resign from the post of Beijing-Tianjin Garrison Commander on June 27.

In his memoirs, Li Zongren disclosed a piece of self-proclaimed "amazing news", saying that when the Northern Expedition had just been completed, Chiang had already attempted to use force to eliminate dissidents.He heard this shocking news at Li Jishen's home at the end of July 1928! Li Jishen lived in a small bungalow near the Nanjing Drum Tower at that time. Because he had served as the vice principal of the Whampoa Military Academy, there were often Whampoa students coming and going in and out of his home.Once, a Cantonese Huangpu student came to him and told him a special news.Abbreviated as:

This time (at the end of July in the 17th year), President Jiang stayed in Bengbu on his way back to Beijing from Pingping, and called the officers of the First Group Army stationed along the Jinpu route, from the Whampoa Military Academy, to give a lecture. A small square of blank paper, and asked everyone, after the completion of the Northern Expedition, whether the warlords have been defeated?If you think it has been defeated, write the words "defeated" on the paper, and if you think it has not yet been defeated, write the words "not defeated".The military officers didn't know the principal's intentions, so in order to uphold his intentions, they gave a positive answer based on the facts.After Jiang saw it, he didn't take it seriously, so he lectured again and said, "You think the warlords have been overthrown, but it's not true. The old warlords have been overthrown, but new warlords have emerged.If we want to complete the national revolution, we must overthrow all the new warlords.In the end, Jiang emphasized that only by overthrowing the new warlords together can you have a way out. Those of you who are now company commanders will at least be regimental commanders in the future. (Page 39—)

Li Jishen was a veteran of the Kuomintang army, the commander of the Fourth Army in the early days of the Northern Expedition, stayed in Guangzhou, and served as the vice president of the Whampoa Military Academy.It is not surprising that some officers from a military academy told the story, not to mention that there must be many officers who wrote the note, and there are many witnesses, so it is absolutely impossible to be a rumor.However, Jiang regards Feng, Yan, and Erli as the new warlords, and he is ready to come out.If the second, third, and fourth armies of the National Revolutionary Army are all new warlords, how can the first army be an exception?Jiang unintentionally agreed with Mao Zedong's so-called "four factions of the new Kuomintang warlords Jiang Gui, Feng Yan" (see "Selected Works of Mao Zedong", p. 47)!

The use of force requires preparation, and it is difficult to drink the water of the Xijiang River, so Jiang also took other measures.When he announced the completion of the Northern Expedition, he immediately emphasized that the military and political period had come to an end and the period of political training would begin.The political training is left to the party. He obviously wants to use the party to take over the military power, and then the party he controls can control everything.Based on this consideration, he deliberately tried to establish a close relationship with Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Kuomintang, creating the impression that he was the direct successor and successor of the revolutionary legal system, and wanted to "death Zhongshan" to make the princes.The most dramatic performance in this respect was that he invited the commanders-in-chief of the four major armies, including himself, and all the generals under his command to hold a grand ceremony to pay homage to Sun Yat-sen's coffin at Biyun Temple in Beiping on July 6.The ceremony began at 8:20. Jiang presided over the sacrifice, Feng, Yan, Li and others assisted in the sacrifice. Jiang read the sacrificial text and said:

On July 6th, the seventeenth year of the Republic of China, the National Revolutionary Army laid a memorial ceremony in Beiping, and his disciple Jiang Zhongzheng visited the Biyun Temple in Xiangshan to pay homage to the spirit of my Prime Minister Mr. Sun and said: It has been three years since the death of my Prime Minister. Yu Yi, Zhongzheng used to be the prime minister, he personally accepted the appointment of Yin Yin, and sent him an extraordinary mission to teach him how to fight. Therefore, the one who expected Zhongzheng was to create the force of the revolution, remove the obstacles to the revolution, and save the people from the fire and water as soon as possible...

At this time, Jiang and Soong Meiling had been married for nearly a year, and they had been brother-in-law with Sun Yat-sen. They were not called brothers-in-law, but downgraded to be called disciples. And the force of this revolution was built by following his orders.As the chief priest, he proclaimed the victory of the Northern Expedition and the completion of the great cause of reunification, and he also had the air of fulfilling his mission and taking credit for it.It's called a sacrifice, and it's really for the public to see.Therefore, when he opened the coffin to pay his respects to the remains, he actually supported the coffin and wept in public, feeling like a dutiful son.However, judging from the recollections of accompanying witnesses such as Feng Yuxiang and Li Zongren, they did not follow that set (see Feng Yuxiang's "The Chiang Kai-shek I Know", p. 16; "Memoirs of Li Zongren", p. 569), but Just watching a play.Less than three months after offering sacrifices to the mourning coffin, Chiang agreed to go south to welcome the coffin, to make active preparations, to spend a lot of money, and to set March 12, 1929 as the date of Feng'an, ordering the Ping-Han Railway Bureau to rush to build a hearse and send it to the south. The United States ordered Feng'an Automobile, and trained more than a hundred handlebars.Due to the lack of time to catch up with work, the date of Feng'an was postponed to June 1st.Chiang Kai-shek personally served as the chairman of the Feng'an Committee. The National Government ordered that from the day of May 26, when the soul was transferred, all flags across the country should be flown at half-mast for seven days, people's arms should be wrapped in black veils for seven days, and all entertainment and celebrations should be stopped.The hearse first moved down from Biyun Temple to Beiping East Railway Station, and 15 trains were attached to it until it arrived at Pukou, where Chiang Kai-shek led the reception.At the end of the ceremony, the spirit was moved to the Weisheng warship, crossed the river and landed, followed by Jiang, carried out in order, followed by the hearse to the auditorium of the Central Party Headquarters, where the death ceremony was held, and Jiang was still the chief priest, offering flowers and incense.Then there are sixty-six members of the Central Committee and special officials below Jiang, in groups of three, and they take turns to keep watch every night until June 1, when they are in peace.On the same day, the hearse set off for Zijin Mountain. One hundred and eight wives, led by Chiang Kai-shek and Kong Xiangxi, went up the stairs, helped the ark into the sacrificial hall, and held a funeral ceremony. After that, Chiang presided over the sacrificial ceremony, laid a wreath, read out the scriptures, and saluted like instrument.At the completion of the ceremony, the coffin was moved into the tomb gate, and the cannon was fired one hundred and one times. Jiang and others entered the tomb gate one by one to pay their respects. (Refer to "Feng'an Shilu")

Such extravagance and extravagance requires people all over the country to wear mourning. The feudal emperor's color is already very strong. Compared with the funeral ceremony of Emperor Guangxu and Empress Dowager Cixi in 1908, it is even worse. It is really a great irony for a revolutionist. A revolutionary, Zhang Taiyan, couldn't stand it, and made a very sarcastic elegiac couplet for Feng'an: The whole country is the Soviet Union, and the redness is not as good as Chen Duxiu; All courts are righteous sons, and Biyun should succeed Wei Zhongxian. The Zhang family had long regarded Sun Yat-sen's alliance with Russia and the Communist Party of China as the redification, but Sun Zhihua was not as authentic as the CCP's Chen Duxiu; the newly established Nanjing government, since Chiang Kai-shek, everyone regarded Sun Yat-sen as the father of the country. It can be followed directly by Wei Zhongxian, a power official in the Ming Dynasty, and it is a coincidence that Wei's tomb is located behind Biyun Temple at the eastern foot of Xiangshan Mountain, where Sun's coffin rests after his death.The Feng'an Grand Ceremony was undoubtedly done in accordance with Chiang Kai-shek's wishes, and the dead revolutionaries had no choice but to make him make this "feudal" arrangement.He made such an arrangement, thankful for the map, and secondly, it is true that he wants to recover the investment of political capital.

After Chiang Kai-shek helped the coffin and cried for the spirit in Xiangshan, he used his brains on how to purge dissidents. At that time, he had added many Beiyang politicians and strategists, and offered advice from time to time. Among them was Yang Yongtai, whose name was Changqing, from Maoming, Guangdong. Huang Xing, Chen Duxiu and others organized the "European Affairs Research Society", which was renamed "Politics Society" after the war, and was known as the Department of Political Science in the world. The scholars of the Zhen Dynasty offered advice to Emperor Shunzong of the Tang Dynasty, the story of reducing the vassal power and returning it to the court. He suggested that local military leaders be invited to the central government to serve as officials, so as to achieve the effect of "leaving the nest and destroying the nest", and promote the reorganization of the entire army to digest the local force.On August 8, 1928, Jiang Sui took advantage of the Fifth Plenary Session of the Second Central Committee of the Kuomintang in Nanjing to throw out the "military reorganization case" in order to assimilate dissident troops, claiming that the "military and political period" should move towards the "training period". "Government period", governing the country with the party, and accordingly proposed to abolish the political branches in various places.However, the establishment of the political sub-committee was initiated by Chiang Kai-shek at the Fourth Plenary Session of the Second Central Committee, and was reserved for a decision until the Third Congress.Jiang Zhihou was in a hurry and couldn't justify himself, so his attempt to use the Second Fifth Middle School to abolish the political branch had to fail. Although the "Military Reorganization Case" is on the agenda, its future is uncertain.Jiang's central government wrestled with the local government, and suddenly became a stalemate.At this time, when Hu Hanmin returned to China, he also advocated party power and advocated the abolition of political branches. His motives may be different from Jiang's, but the short-term goals are the same, which makes Jiang feel like a tiger with wings added.The executive meeting of the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang passed the "Government Training Program" and the "Organization Law of the National Government of the Republic of China" on October 3, and a new Nanjing government was formed on October 8.Chiang Kai-shek served as the chairman of the government, Tan Yan served as the executive president, and Hu Hanmin served as the legislative president.Feng Yuxiang served as Vice President of the Executive Yuan and Minister of Military and Political Affairs, Li Jishen served as Chief of Staff, Yan Xishan served as Minister of Internal Affairs, and Li Zongren served as President of the Military Senate.All the chairmen of the political sub-committees were wiped out and became members of the Central Committee, showing unprecedented unity on the surface.Jiang Sui led the dean of the Fifth Academy to take the oath of office in Nanjing on National Day, October 10, urging those who have not been to Beijing to take up their posts as soon as possible. After Jiang became chairman, the first important thing was to appoint He Yingqin, the director of military training, to actively plan for the holding of the "National Arrangement Conference", that is, the implementation of the "Military Reorganization Project".After reunification, the army needs to be organized and dispatched. No one doubts it, and it is popular among the people, but there are many contradictions about how to organize and deploy it.We feel that Jiang wanted to hold this meeting because he had no sincerity to solve the problem, because whether he followed Feng Yuxiang's excellent suggestion or Yan Xishan's suggestion of equal distribution, it was not what he wanted.What he really wanted was a family-run meal, but it was inconvenient to say so.Therefore, a meeting is only an activity on the table, and there are other actions under the table. The opening ceremony of the National Organization Conference was held on the first day of 1929. More than 60 people, including commanders-in-chief and commanders-in-chief of each group army, participated in the meeting.At the meeting, Chiang Kai-shek gave a special report on "Hopes of the National Army Reorganization and Dispatch Committee". He hoped that the four army groups would follow the example of the Choshu, Satsuma, Tosa, and Hizen feudal clans in the Meiji Restoration era. , Resolutely return the great government and return to the central government", and "remove the vassal soldiers and reorganize the national army". Only after unification and centralization can a modern country be built. The intention is very clear.He wholeheartedly wants others to "understand the righteousness" and return the great government, but he forgets that he is just one of the heroes.On the contrary, if he regards himself as Emperor Meiji, won't the other Sanxiong domains snicker?However, Jiang was confident in the end, so during the discussion, the various feudal clans quarreled, and he pretended to be an arbitrator, and compiled the "Procedural Outline of the National Army Arrangement Committee" to collect military power in the central government, such as canceling the group army headquarters, waiting for ordering, and so on.But Yan, Feng, etc. were not satisfied, and advocated resting and reorganizing first, then reorganizing and dispatching.As a result, after twenty-six days of meetings, no final decision was made, and instead the conflict intensified, perhaps exactly what Chiang had expected. Just as he wanted to monopolize military power by organizing and dispatching meetings, Chiang planned to manipulate the Third National Congress of the Kuomintang to monopolize party power.With the support of Hu Hanmin, he was determined to act recklessly.Just because members of the reorganization faction of the Kuomintang opposed recklessness, he actually used hooliganism to fight violently, attacking the meeting place of the reorganization faction, flying bricks and stones, snatching documents, injuring many people, and causing the "March 14 Incident".Afterwards, Chiang simply organized the meeting, and none of the other commander-in-chiefs of the three armies attended. Li Jishen was tricked into going to Nanjing and was detained. , and indicates that any means will be used to achieve the goal.The split within the Kuomintang was inevitable, and civil and military struggles followed one after another, so that it turned into a large-scale war. If Chiang Kai-shek wants to become Emperor Meiji, he must defeat each of them. If the other three armies join forces to counterattack, they will undoubtedly lose.Therefore, he temporarily perfunctory Yan and Feng in the north, and first attacked the Guangxi Fourth Army. Feng Yuxiang expressed concern about this in mid-January, saying: "The success of the Northern Expedition is the result of the concerted efforts of all groups. Attempts should be made to eliminate the fourth group.” (Volume Two of Feng Yuxiang’s Diary, p. 564) Chiang Kai-shek claimed to seek rebellion and accused the Guangxi clique of disobeying the central government, but in fact it was the central government’s planned action to cut down the vassals. No words.Since Li Zongren unified Guangxi, he promoted the Northern Expedition. He led troops from Bagui to Wuhan in the north and went to Beijing and Shanghai in the east. He made brilliant military exploits and formed a powerful Guangxi faction. He also defeated Tang Shengzhi. At that time, a huge Fourth Army was formed.Bai Chongxi, the former commander-in-chief of the enemy, drove from Wuhan to Beijing and Tianjin to share in the completion of the Northern Expedition.The meritorious service is enough to shake the master, but although Li and Bai regard Jiang as their boss, they do not accommodate everything.However, Jiang always regarded Li and Bai as dissidents from the beginning to the end, and even when they were in trouble together, he was always on guard.When Jiang left the field for the first time, he even spread the theory that the Guangxi family forced the palace, and published it in the newspapers to confuse the public. It can be said that he has self-controlled contradictions. (See Huang Shao's "The Rise of the New Guangxi Clan", "Morning News" reported on August 24 and August 17, 1927; "Memoirs of Li Zongren", p. 477) By the time the Northern Expedition was completed, The troops of the Guangxi faction have extended from Guangxi and Lianghu to Pingjin, and the north and the south echo each other. Li and Bai also have insight into Jiang's scheming and are not active in organizing and dispatching.As far as Jiang is concerned, the Northern Expedition was successful, and if it is not cooked in time, it will surely become a serious disaster.From the point of view of each defeat, the Gui family must bear the brunt because of the proximity and the distance. In ancient and modern China and abroad, teachers must be famous, and they must be famous if they are stimulated and changed.Lu Diping, Chairman of Hunan Province within the sphere of influence of the Guangxi clique, was the former Ministry of Tan Yan. Chiang Kai-shek was connected with the Lu family because of Tan's relationship, and smuggled a large number of firearms through Jiangxi to help Lu fight against Guizhou. The "Xiang case" of expelling Lu on February 19, 1929.When Li Zongren was in Nanjing, he claimed that he didn't know about it beforehand, and he hated the rash actions of Xia Wei, Tao Jun, and Hu Zongduo, the generals of the Fourth Army in Han Dynasty, and fell into Jiang's trap. (See "Li Zongren's Memoirs", pages 396-397) Chiang Kai-shek really seized the opportunity and on February 27, in the name of the Central Political Conference of the Kuomintang, removed Xia, Tao, and Hu from the Wuhan Political Branch Membership.However, this punishment was still a prelude, and Li Zongren was telegraphed on March 7, in the name of maintaining the prestige of the central government, to mobilize troops and push into eastern Hubei (see "Guowen Weekly", Volume VI, Issue 11), with the intention of using force.But Chiang Kai-shek not only wants to punish Wuhan, but the ulterior motive is to take this opportunity to completely disintegrate the forces of the Guangxi faction.In order to destroy Bai Chongxi's strength in Pingjin, he spared no effort to support his old enemy Tang Shengzhi with a lot of money, and ordered him to go north to the Tang Dynasty, forcing Bai to flee south in a hurry. On March 21, he appointed Tang as the commander-in-chief of the Fifth Route Army. command.At the same time, Jiang lured Li Jishen to leave Guangdong. Although Li was an important town in Guangdong, as a native of Guangxi, he had a good relationship with Li Zongren, which Jiang avoided.After Li Jishen arrived in Shanghai, he saw Li Zongren, who came from Beijing to Shanghai, and he was apprehensive about going to Beijing. Children and relatives.Li Jishen finally went to Nanjing and advised Jiang to turn hostility into friendship. Jiang pretended to agree, but Li Xin believed it to be true. He telegraphed Jiang's attitude to the Gui side and asked for restraint. Unexpectedly, Jiang did not stop advancing troops in private. After Li Jishen received the report on March 16, he knew Jiang Wuxinyi, that is, telegraphed Li Zongren to "dispatch the army to crusade in order to uphold justice" (see "Guowen Weekly", Volume VI, Issue 12), but Jiang Fang intercepted it, and on March 21, Li Yu was imprisoned. Tangshan.Chiang Kai-shek not only deceived the enemy, but also played tricks on Wu Zhihui and other big bosses. Although his tactics were shady, he chased Bai and imprisoned Li on the same day, and achieved the goal of eliminating the northern and southern wings of the Guangxi Clan. After the wings were removed, Chiang Kai-shek officially issued a crusade order on March 26, and personally supervised the troops in Jiujiang to enter Wuhan.Wuhan is the headquarters of the Fourth Army. Although Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi, and Huang Shaohong, the giants of Guangxi, are not in the army, and the dragons have no leader, under the command of Xia, Tao, and Hu, they have 100,000 troops and their strength is not small. Taking Wuhan without bloodshed was not because of Chiang Kai-shek's "heavenly wisdom", but because he had already bought and divided beforehand. He used the dissatisfaction of the Guangxi generals Yu Zuobai and Li Mingrui to buy them with high-ranking officials and rich salary, and sent a special agent Zheng Jiemin to Wuhan to carry out activities. differentiation.Just when Xia Wei left the army, he suddenly suffered from diphtheria, so he just handed over the command to Li Mingrui, and immediately turned back to the army, disrupting the formation, and was defeated without hesitation.Chiang Kai-shek still did not give up, and transferred from Wuhan to Changsha on April 25, deploying a battle plan to attack Guangxi's old nest. (See the report of "Suntian Times" on April 26, 1929, see also the report on April 17) Li Zongren and others returned to Guangxi from Hong Kong via Vietnam Formed a "Protecting the Party and Salvating the Nation Army" and sent a telegram to challenge Chiang (see the seventh volume of the second series of "Compilation of Modern Chinese Political History"). In order to reverse the decline, they attacked Guangzhou from the east.On May 19th and 22nd, the Guangxi army and Chen Jitang, the pro-Chiang Yue army, fought fiercely in the areas of Lubao, Chini, and Baini. Because Jiang ordered He Jian to lead the army from Hunan into Guangxi, the Gui army was outnumbered and defeated. .The Hunan-Guangdong coalition forces then captured Wuzhou on June 2. On the 27th, the Guangxi rebel generals Yu Zuobai and Li Mingrui entered Nanning. Jiang announced Yu as the chairman of Guangxi Province.The strength of the Guangxi faction established by the three giants of Li, Bai, and Huang and its fourth group army have so far disintegrated.Although the Guangxi family has not disappeared, the golden age is gone forever.Chiang Kai-shek was very proud of his successful maneuvers, but Li Zongren was not convinced. He said in "Memoirs": "Mr. From a military point of view, Mr. Jiang really can neither generals nor soldiers." If it is not sour grapes, if we look at history, Chiang's military tactics are indeed beyond the scope of "money buying" and "dividing and discord".In the battle of defeating Gui, it was still a small test of the sword, and then he used it on Yan and Feng as a sharp weapon for militarism.