Chapter 28 Section Four: Hu Hanmin Discusses Chiang Kai-shek Against Japan

Hu Hanmin was respected as a veteran of the Kuomintang and the president of the Legislative Yuan. He was arrested by Chiang Kai-shek just because of his political differences. He was placed under house arrest for more than seven months. For the sake of Xue's personal regret, in his opinion, it is also necessary to get rid of "a big sore" for the party and the country.In a secret letter, he said in code words: The door-to-door system is a deadly sore in China. Western medicine can be used to cut it off. This is a treatment method.Apart from the two, there is nothing to do. ("Mr. Hu's Personal Letters and Comments", collected by the Harvard-Yenching Institute Library, quoted from Yang Tianshi's "Searching for the Mystery of History", p. 565)

The door, using the allusion of "Wu Song drunk and beat Jiang's door god", alluded to Chiang Kai-shek, that is, he did not hesitate to use "surgical" or "internal medicine" operations to get rid of Chiang Kai-shek's "big sore". The deep hatred can be imagined. After Hu Hanmin was released on October 14, 1931, he arrived in Shanghai. The next day, he sent a telegram to a member of the Guangzhou Extraordinary Conference, admitting that there were "multiple disputes and inappropriate political actions" within the Kuomintang, and hoped that the party members would "completely wake up and strive to unite."One day later, the Nanjing government, which publicly criticized Chiang Kai-shek, had only the "three noes" to deal with the Japanese imperialist aggression, that is, "no way, no responsibility, and no resistance."If things go on like this, "then the country will perish and the species will perish." (Refer to Hu Hanmin's "Three Noisms of Subjugation", contained in "Mr. Hu Hanmin's Political Commentary Selection") Chiang Kai-shek's failure to resist Japan is enough to subjugate the country, so he wants to resist Japan and oppose Chiang to save the country.He will no longer cooperate with Jiang, which can be seen in the "To Guangdong Central Telegram" on October 30. He clearly stated that he would not join Wang Jingwei in Beijing, and he strongly stated that "force a certain (Jiang) to resign, and urge the system to restrict individual Power, break the dictatorship"!

Hu's position of "breaking the dictatorship" naturally strengthened Guangdong's determination to ask Chiang Kai-shek to step down. On December 5, Hu and the Central Committee elected by the Cantonese Extraordinary Meeting jointly sent a telegram to urge Chiang to step down and relieve the army.Ten days later, Jiang Guo resigned by telegram as Chairman of the National Government, Chief Executive, and Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Navy and Air Force. After Chiang Kai-shek went to the field, Ning and Guangdong merged together, and on the surface there was an image of cooperation between all parties, and the image of Jiang, Wang and Hu joining hands.But in fact, Hu Hanmin stayed in Hong Kong and refused to enter Beijing.He was not only disgusted with Jiang Zhi's return and Jiang Wang's cooperation, but also determined to reverse it.Sun Ke, who had just resigned as the executive president at the time, was very worried about Jiang Wang's policy of withdrawing from the sun. He once told Hu Hanmin in a secret message that Jiang had ordered the generals of the 19th Route Army not to "start wars without authorization." , "It is an expression of resistance, but still the generals of the 19th Route Army are only allowed to resist and do not need to expand." He believes that "the Japanese plan to destroy the military forces along the Yangtze River, and the Nanjing Central Committee will inevitably collapse as a result." (The full text of the telegram can be found in Yang Tianshi's "Searching for the Mystery of History", p. 568) Although Hu Hanmin did not form a new government, he continued to actively campaign to overthrow Chiang.He wanted to unify the forces of powerful factions in various parts of the Southwest, to contend with Jiang Wang's Nanjing government, to call for resistance to Japan, and to use this to attack Jiang Wang's policy of non-resistance.He also got in touch with Feng Yuxiang in North China.Master Feng fought hard against the Japanese, and expressed his grief and indignation at Jiang Zhi's humiliation to Japan, and also wanted to contact the southwest to overthrow Chiang. (See Zhang Yunrong's "Letter to Mr. Zhantang" on August 18, 1932) At this time, Feng had moved from Xuzhou to Taishan, and he was called to recuperate and study. In fact, he conspired with Han Fuju in Shandong, and hit it off with Hu Ziyi .Hu replied to Feng Yuxiang on May 5, 1932, saying that "in the past four or five years, only individuals have been seen, but no party" and "all measures have been taken out of personal selfishness." Chiang Kai-shek also hinted that if Chiang was overthrown, he "will wholeheartedly help." (The original copy of Hu’s letter is in the East Asian Library of Harvard University) Hu also exchanged information with Zhang Xueliang, Han Fuju, Yan Xishan, Sun Dianying, and Shi Yousan in the north, and planned how to resist the arrogant Japanese invaders and how to eliminate the "robbery" of the country. The leader of dictatorship" Chiang Kai-shek. (See Yang Tianshi's "Seeking the Answer to History", p. 570) He also won the support of the overseas branch of the Kuomintang, who sympathized with his anti-Japanese and anti-Chiang stance.It can be seen that his development of "anti-Chiang" relations is very extensive.In fact, he has already started to organize the New Kuomintang, emphasizing discipline, unity and anti-Chiang, and the scope of activities has expanded to Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, and Sichuan provinces.

The cooperation between Jiang and Wang in the Nanjing government, Jiang Zhujun, and Wang Zhuzheng are not as harmonious as they seem on the surface.As Zhou Dewei pointed out, Jiang still controlled politics in remote control, "not breaking away from the old habits of warlords", "military expenditures accounted for more than 80% of the annual income, and the provinces and border officials remained the same, and the Wang family had no room to comment." Chiang "" He also recommended Kong Xiangxi as the president of the central bank and the chairman of the Bank of China, and later "recommended Chen Guofu as the chairman of the Jiangsu Provincial Government, and Zhang Jingjiang had already served as the chairman of Zhejiang Province." You Heng, which means Jiang's eagle dog, is different from Wang's. (Chapter 16 of the handwritten manuscript of Zhou Dewei's "Yu Zhisheng and the Kuomintang") However, Jiang and Wang cooperated in the name, and Jiang was actually a dictatorship alone, regardless of politics, army, party, and government.

At the beginning of 1933, the Japanese army raided Shanhaiguan and Yuguan fell. Zhang Xueliang was determined to resist, and his relationship with Hu Hanmin became closer.Zhang once told Hu the reason for his "non-resistance", so Hu said in his reply: Brother, he lost the Northeast by not resisting, and now he lost Yuguan by not resisting.If things go on like this, the country will not be a country.Although it is said that the person who bears the ultimate responsibility should be someone else, and Brother Gu is responsible for it, how can he explain himself to the people of the country?Even if it is not for personal considerations, will it not be for the lives of millions of people? (Originally in the East Asian Library of Harvard University)

Although Hu hoped that Zhang Xueliang would unite with the generals of North China to fight against the Japanese emperor, but the person "not in" was the supreme commander of the country, Chiang Kai-shek, who still wanted to wipe out the Communist Party and had no intention of resisting the Japanese.The Japanese army invaded and occupied Chengde on March 4th. Zhang Xueliang had no choice but to take the blame and resign and go abroad sadly.Hu Hanmin’s countermeasure against this situation was to actively organize the Southwest Anti-Japanese Allied Forces and contact the northern anti-Japanese generals in order to go north to rescue Jehol. However, his intention was not only to resist Japan, but also to overthrow Chiang, as can be seen in another secret letter as follows:

The Southwest Anti-Japanese Army set off, with Xianchu as the commander-in-chief, and he took the anti-Japanese as the goal of overthrowing Chiang. If the army can leave Wuhan, the northern bureau will change, and everything can be changed according to the situation. (Hu Hanmin to Hu Huang and Song Yun, the original is in the Harvard-Yenching Library) The Xianchu in the letter is the name of Cai Tingkai, a general of the 19th Route Army. Commander-in-Chief of the Southwest Anti-Japanese Army".At this time, the Anti-Japanese National Salvation Movement was surging across the country. Feng Yuxiang announced the establishment of the Chahar People’s Anti-Japanese Allied Army in Zhangjiakou on May 26. The signing of the "Tanggu Agreement" that humiliated the country, actually recognized the legalization of the Japanese army's occupation of the Great Wall and the area north of Shanhaiguan, and agreed that the Chabei and Chadong areas south of the Great Wall would not be fortified, directly opening the door to North China.Hu Hanmin was very angry when he heard this, so he sent a telegram to Feng Yuxiang, saying: "I would like to invite the public Zhenyi teacher to come to a compromise with He (Ying Qin) and Huang (Ying Bai) on the capture of Beiping, and then go to fight against Jiang to fight against Japan." (Hu Hanmin Zhihuan. Public electricity, the original is in the Harvard-Yenching Library) However, regardless of the Southwest or North China, the anti-Japanese sentiment against Chiang was high, but the strength (military and financial resources) was not enough.Hu Hanmin's plan of "going north to the Yangtze River and overthrowing the national thieves" was aborted. Feng Yuxiang's anti-Japanese allied army announced its disbandment under Chiang Kai-shek's oppression and division, and Fang Zhenwu and Ji Hongchang's anti-Japanese (Chiang) army also failed due to isolation .But Hu Hanmin still refused to give up, and was still actively planning how to "condemn the independent husband and engage in resistance against Japan" until October. (See the letter from Hu Hanmin to He Zipei, October 19, 1933, the original copy is in the Harvard-Yenching Library)

Although it is Hu Hanmin's dream goal to fight against Chiang Kai-shek, the CCP, which advocates fiercely fighting against Chiang Kai-shek, is still the enemy he wants to eliminate.Therefore, when the "Fujian Change" occurred in November 1933, due to the change of the country's name, the change of the flag, and the alliance with the Communist Party, although the goal was to defeat Chiang Kai-shek against Japan, Hu Hanmin could not agree to cooperate, and insisted on the two-pronged approach of defeating Chiang and suppressing the Communist Party. Claiming that "the dictatorial and traitorous Nanjing military rule and the rebellious party and Communist Party's Fujian rule must be eliminated at the same time" (see Hu Hanmin's Declaration on the Current Situation, December 15, 1933, published in "Mr. Hu Hanmin's Selected Political Commentaries 》), courage is commendable, but it is almost an impossible task.At this time, Chiang Kai-shek was dividing the division of Jiangxi to suppress the Communists, and went to Fujian to seek rebellion. He used the three armies of the sea, land and air, and went to Jian'ou to command the suppression. The 19th Route Army was isolated and helpless. Jiang reorganized, and part of the remnant army was reorganized by Chen Jitang into the Third Independent Brigade of the Cantonese Army.

In 1934, Hu Hanmin continued to liaise with generals from all over the country to carry out anti-Japanese and anti-Chiang activities. Although he failed one after another in military affairs and had nothing to show for it, in terms of politics and party affairs, he had actually independent the Southwest from the Nanjing government, which was quite effective. For example, when Chiang convened the Second Plenary Session of the Fourth Central Committee of the Kuomintang in Luoyang in March 1932, Hu flatly refused to attend.A year later, Jiang proposed to convene an interim national congress, but Hu and others objected by telegram and was forced to cancel it.The Fifth National Congress of the Kuomintang, which was originally scheduled to be held in November 1933, was also forced to be postponed to November 12 of the following year.Hu Hanmin still published Youtelegraph, which confronted Jiang Wang’s agenda, sang against each other, and condemned the Nanjing government for “the party is united in attacking dissidents, it is its own faction, it suppresses comrades, and it intensifies.” period), and even threatened that it was only the Fifth National Congress under the rule of military power, not the Fifth National Congress of the Chinese Kuomintang (see Hu Hanmin's "Letter to Comrades for the Fifth National Congress", published in the fourth issue of the fourth volume of "Three People's Principles Monthly"), and even He did not hesitate to convene another congress, announcing Chiang Kai-shek, Wang Jingwei, etc. "treasoned the party and betrayed the country, and expelled them from the party." (See Hu Hanmin's letter to the Reorganization Committee of the Nanyang British General Branch on September 25, 1934 and the letter to Zou Lu and others on September 30, 1934) Wang Jiang had a headache and had to "encourage safety". Wang Chonghui personally took Kong Xiangxi's letter to the south, appealing for understanding, and moved him with affection, and invited Hu to "come to Beijing as soon as possible to take charge of everything", but Hu shaved his beard. It is said that it is not necessary to ask for "understanding between private individuals" in order to delay the "national crisis", and then point the finger at Chiang Kai-shek: "Above the Nanjing government, there is also a Nanchang Supreme Government, who is a military leader. It can issue orders without authorization, call civil officials at all levels to give lectures without authorization, and organize the Blue Shirt Party in an attempt to replace the Three People's Principles with fascism." ("Mr. Volume 4, Issue 5) This accusation is not insignificant, but it is difficult to refute. The so-called Three People's Principles are flaunted, and the reality of practicing dictatorship, especially hits Jiang's vitals.Due to Hu Hanmin's boycott and condemnation, the Fifth Plenary Session was not held, and the Fifth Plenary Session of the Fourth Central Committee was held on December 10.

In response to Jiang's centralization of power, Hu vigorously advocated the equalization of power and co-governance, and won the support of the power faction in the Southwest.In order to win Hu Zhi's understanding, Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei drew up a plan on how to balance power between the central and local governments on February 3, 1934, and sent Wang Chonghui and Sun Ke to Hong Kong to negotiate.But Hu Hanmin knew that Jiang was not sincere, so he asked Sun Ke to bring back a letter. Although his words were polite, he still refused to leave Jiang thousands of miles away, and Ya did not want to cooperate with Beijing:

Twenty years after the People's Republic of China, Jiu Que Yin asked.The two brothers Liangchou and Zhesheng came and borrowed the handwriting, which was very interesting.My younger brother has been suffering from Haiyu for three years, and sometimes he is attacked by wind and cold, and his blood pressure has not been low for a long time.Wen Zun's body has not been free of minor illnesses recently. Before the kiss, his energy was a little low. I sincerely miss my brother.My younger brother thought that the prime minister had already shown the great plan of the country, so he still understood it carefully for several years and did not dare to let it go.The discussion with Liang and Zhe this time is only for this purpose, that is, to entrust them to express themselves one by one, and it is beyond Pianchu's ability to do so. (Quoting Yang Tianshi's "Searching for the Mystery of History", page 594) In February 1931, Hu was detained by Jiang, so that he "asked for a long time" and never forgot to remind Jiang of what he had done.The letter did not mention state affairs, but only said "the country's major plans" and "the Prime Minister has shown great importance."One week after he wrote this letter, he published an article in the "Three People's Principles Monthly" he presided over, accusing Chiang of "plagiarizing the prime minister's idea of ​​equal power, hoping to implement his system of equal power under military rule" (see the fourth volume of the journal In the sixth issue of "Military Power and the Equalization of Power" article), then "the Prime Minister has shown it very carefully" and so on, and the meaning of the blame is completely silent.However, Chiang sent a letter to Hu Hanmin on March 11, 1935, still using the theory of "seeking unity" and "reversing the crisis".Since then, Japan has become more and more anxious about China. The Japanese side sent Sun Yat-sen's old friend Kayano Nagachi to talk about Hu Hanmin, to encourage "southwest independence", and to invite Hu to "enter the post of president" to cooperate with "North China autonomy".Of course, Hu Hanmin could not become a traitor in order to oppose Chiang, so when Dohihara went to Hong Kong to meet Hu in person on March 2, 1935, he attempted to provoke Guangdong and Guangxi to send troops to defeat Chiang, but Hu refused. (See Hu Hanmin's "On the So-Called Cooperation between China and Japan", contained in the third issue of the fifth volume of "Three People's Principles Monthly") For a while, Hu Hanmin became a figure who was wooed by Japan and Chiang, but he insisted on the stand of resisting Japan and opposing Chiang.Because of resisting Japan and saving the country, it was impossible for him to unite with Japan to oppose Chiang; also because of resisting Japan and saving the country, it was impossible for him to cooperate with Chiang Kai-shek who refused to fight against Japan.However, the Chiang Kai-shek problem in Hu's mind was not only a policy towards Japan, but also a military dictatorship.Therefore, although he went to Europe to recuperate in June, he still opposed the Nanjing government cooperated by Jiang and Wang, unwilling to unite with them, and refused to participate in the Sixth Plenary Session of the Fourth Central Committee of the Kuomintang held in Nanjing on November 1, 1935. .On the first day of the meeting, Sun Fengming, an anti-Japanese and patriotic former platoon leader of the 19th Route Army, sneaked in as a field reporter from Chenguang News Agency. He wanted to assassinate Chiang Kai-shek who was not fighting against Japan. Three shots were fired.Not only was Wang shot on behalf of Chiang, but he also abdicated due to injury, so that Chiang Kai-shek, who held military power, completely controlled the party and government power.In order to win Hu Hanmin's unity with other Cantonese central committee members and participate in the Fifth National Congress, Chiang Kai-shek tried his best to verbally meet Hu's and other demands.When the First Central Committee of the Fifth National Congress was held in Nanjing on December 7, 1935, Hu was elected chairman of the Central Standing Committee of the Kuomintang even though he was in Europe. It was clearly Chiang Kai-shek's intention that he would take charge of party affairs.When Hu returned to China at the beginning of 1936, Jiang ordered Wei Daoming to go to Singapore to meet him first, and sent a letter saying, "Please come to Beijing and China today to help each other in difficult times." However, Hu still had doubts about Jiang and arrived in Guangzhou. Later, he continued to criticize the Nanjing government, but his speech seemed to have changed from overthrowing Chiang Kai-shek's government to promoting his awareness and self-reflection, so as to unite the nation's anti-Japanese forces.Hu Hanmin died of cerebral hemorrhage in Guangzhou on May 12 of the same year, and never entered Beijing to cooperate with Chiang Kai-shek again.Jiang imprisoned him for more than seven months, and he begged Jiang for more than fifty months, verbally criticizing him in writing, endlessly, did Jiang Shi expect it? Chiang Kai-shek's remedy is to work hard on Hu Hanmin as much as possible. If Hu can enter Beijing and cooperate again, Hu's prosperity in the southwest and his status in the Kuomintang can at least end the semi-independent state of Guangdong and Guangxi. It was so late that he died suddenly of illness.However, Jiang wanted to solve the Southwest, and he did not stop there, which led to the so-called "Guangdong and Guangxi Changes" incident on June 1, 1936. When Hu Hanmin was actively engaged in anti-Japanese activities against Chiang, Chen Jitang, the "King of the South" in Guangdong, felt hesitant and reluctant to send troops.Because of his diligence in governing Guangdong Province and his recuperation, he certainly did not want to put all his eggs in one basket. However, according to "Li Zongren's Memoirs", it seems reasonable that the King of Nantian was unwilling to carry the sedan chair for Hu Hanmin and let Hu dominate the southwest.However, it is an exaggeration to say that after Hu died, Chen had ambitions.Chen knew that Jiang would not allow the Southwest to be out of his control, so after Hu's death, he sent his brother Wei Zhou to observe Jiang's words and spy on him, and to spy on the information. Fear, so that the idea of ​​​​"sit and wait for death, who will cut it" came into being, so there was a joint move between Nan Tian Wang and Guangxi Li and Bai. This change has its own skills. It is only called the Anti-Japanese War and does not mention Chiang Kai-shek. The troops going north are called the "Anti-Japanese National Salvation Army."Purely for the sake of the war of resistance, Chiang Kai-shek was inconvenient to openly conquer the anti-Japanese army and stop the war of resistance. Although he did not "siege the city", he focused on attacking the heart and used his old tricks of dividing people and buying money.At the beginning of July, the Cantonese planes voted for Chiang, and Chen Jitang's general Yu Hanmou sent a telegram to support Chiang.Is it a coincidence that such an uprising before the battle?Yu Han plotted to demolish Chen Jitang's platform, just like Chen Jitang's dismantling of Li Jishen's platform back then. It was all Chiang Kai-shek's underground work. Dai Li's gang of military commanders did not eat for nothing.As for the Guangdong machine flying north, is it abandoning the dark and turning to the bright?Fly to gold also. After all, Chen Jitang fled to Hong Kong in embarrassment. Although Guangxi Li and Bai could still retain a corner of Guangxi's strength, they were alone and had no choice but to support Jiang's Central Committee in August.Less than three months after Hu Hanmin's death, the anti-Chiang forces in the Southwest disintegrated without bloodshed, and Chiang Kai-shek won another round of internal strife among the Kuomintang, and was able to delay the resistance against Japan and concentrate more on suppressing the Communists.