Chapter 3 3. Tang Shengzhi was ordered in danger

November 18, 1937, Nanjing, the official residence of Chiang Kai-shek's Sifangcheng Mausoleum outside Zhongshan Gate. Since the "August 13" Shanghai Anti-Japanese War broke out, Chiang Kai-shek moved here to work in order to avoid the bombing of Japanese planes.It is said to be an official residence, but in fact there are only two small bungalows, one bedroom and one office room. On this day, Chiang Kai-shek will hold an important military meeting here to discuss the defense of Nanjing.After the Chinese defenders in Shanghai fully retreated, the Japanese army took advantage of the victory to pursue them, and the issue of Nanjing's defense was quickly put on the agenda. For this reason, Chiang Kai-shek held two consecutive military meetings to discuss.

A military meeting held a few days ago was attended by He Yingqin, Bai Chongxi, Xu Yongchang, Liu Fei and others.At the meeting, Chiang Kai-shek said in a slow but forceful tone: "The Japanese say that China will be destroyed in three months, but now Shanghai alone has been fighting for three months. The battle in Shanghai is still well fought, and foreigners can see it. The Chinese army is not as weak as they imagined. Now—" He paused, and then continued: "The next target of the Japanese is Nanjing. How to fight the battle in Nanjing, please express your opinions." After finishing speaking, Chiang Kai-shek looked around at the generals present at the meeting. Some of the generals bowed their heads in thought, and some were trying to figure out the chairman's psychology.After a while, Liu Fei, Chief of Operations Department of the Military Command, first broke the silence. He said: "After the Battle of Shanghai, the enemy advanced rapidly along the Yangtze River, Shanghai-Nanjing and Beijing-Hangzhou lines with superior sea, land and air forces and heavy equipment. It has great military advantages. Nanjing is located in the bend of the Yangtze River. The enemy can blockade and bombard Nanjing from the Yangtze River, or cut off our retreat from Wuhu, and then attack by sea, land and air. Nanjing will be in a three-dimensional encirclement. You can't defend yourself." At this point, Liu Fei paused intentionally to see if there was no response from everyone, and then continued: "However, Nanjing is the capital of our country, so giving up without any resistance is of course not possible; In my opinion, as long as there is a symbolic defense, and after a proper resistance, we will voluntarily withdraw, and it will be enough to use 12 regiments, at most 18 regiments."

After Liu Fei finished speaking, Chiang Kai-shek faced the other generals and said, "What's your opinion?" The chief of staff of the base camp Bai Chongxi first expressed his agreement with Liu Fei's opinion, and then He Yingqin and Xu Yongchang also spoke one after another, thinking that Liu Fei's opinion was reasonable.He Yingqin also specifically added: "After the Battle of Songhu, our army suffered heavy casualties, and many troops needed to rest and replenish. It is not appropriate to conduct large-scale battles at this time." After listening to the opinions of the generals, Chiang Kai-shek said after a little thought: "Weizhang (Liu Fei's character)'s opinion is very correct, but Nanjing is the capital of our country. As for how to abide by the law, everyone will think about it.”

The first military meeting ended in Chiang Kai-shek's ambiguous speech.Two days later, a second military meeting was held, attended by Tang Shengzhi, Gu Zhenglun, Wang Jun and others. After Chiang Kai-shek's routine speech, Liu Fei once again stated his opinion on the symbolic defense of Nanjing, and analyzed the situation of both the enemy and ourselves, and added: "Under such circumstances, Nanjing cannot be defended. Based on the In the current actual situation, our army should avoid decisive battles with powerful enemies in the early stages of the War of Resistance, and should not compete for victory or defeat in a city or a place. Instead, we must focus on the overall strategy and start a comprehensive and protracted war with the Japanese invaders , to further carry out nationwide general mobilization, to buy time with mobile and flexible mobile warfare, and when the opportunity is favorable, concentrate superior forces and launch a powerful blow to the enemy. Our army will carry out a comprehensive and protracted war until the Japanese aggressors attack every enemy occupying our country. The county has to spend a company or even a battalion of troops to defend the battlefield. Even if the Japanese invaders have some tactical victories, they must collapse in the entire war.”

Liu Fei's analysis was originally very pertinent, but just after he finished speaking, Tang Shengzhi stood up excitedly: "Nanjing is the capital of our country, it is visited by international people, and it is also the place where Premier Sun's mausoleum is located. If you give up easily Nanjing, how are we going to treat the elders of the whole country? How are we going to treat the Prime Minister in the spirit of heaven?" At this point, due to his poor health, he took a breath, and Chiang Kai-shek took the opportunity to interject: "Meng Xiao (Tang Shengzhi's word), sit down and speak slowly if you have something to say. .”

Tang Shengzhi took a breath and continued: "So I think that the battle of Nanjing must be fought, and if there is no fight, the world will be laughed at; the city of Nanjing must be defended to the death. Why do you thank the people if you don't defend the general?" After Tang Shengzhi finished speaking, the atmosphere in the venue suddenly became tense. The two opinions were obviously at odds.Some people agree with Liu Fei's opinion, some people say that General Tang Shengzhi's opinion is very reasonable, and some people are ambiguous.In the end, everyone turned their attention to Chiang Kai-shek, hoping that the chairman of the general committee could make a decisive statement.However, the chairman pondered for a moment, and still did not make a decision, but said: "Meng Xiao's opinion is very good and worth considering. As for how to defend Nanjing, let's study it!"

The second military meeting also ended in the atmosphere of Chiang Kai-shek's "re-study and study". Chiang Kai-shek has always been conflicted about the defense of Nanjing.On the one hand, he also felt that Liu Fei's words were reasonable; on the other hand, he had a lot of affection for Nanjing.Nanjing, as a famous historical city in China, has a history of about 2,400 years since Fan Li, a doctor of the Yue State, built the city. During the Three Kingdoms period, the Eastern Wu Dynasty established its capital in Nanjing, and later the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Dynasties Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen all established their capitals. Nanjing, this is the famous Six Dynasties era in history.Including the later Southern Tang Dynasty, Ming Dynasty, Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the Republic of China, which he managed bleakly, a total of ten dynasties established their capitals in Nanjing.For such a famous historical city that cost him a lot of painstaking effort and price, it would be very difficult for him to easily give it up to the enemy.

However, the development of the military situation is too compelling to allow any further delay.Today, the generals participating in the military meeting are all anxious, hoping that the chairman will make a quick decision so that he can deploy future work.Only Tang Shengzhi knew in his heart that the Chairman had made up his mind to stick to Nanjing, and the important task of defending Nanjing was his own. It turned out that after the second military meeting, Chiang Kai-shek said to Tang Shengzhi: "Meng Xiao, let's go out and have a look!" The next day, Chiang Kai-shek invited Tang Shengzhi to go straight to Zijin Mountain. Accompanied by the captain Gui Yongqing, he saw the Fukuo position of the teaching corps.The teaching corps is Chiang Kai-shek's "model teacher" with excellent equipment, strict training, and high salary. Although they suffered heavy losses in the Shanghai battle, they still have strong combat effectiveness.

While looking at the position, Chiang Kai-shek said: "Meng Xiao, this terrain should be able to fight!" After a pause, he continued: "Mother Xipi! The 'Nine Nations Convention' meeting did not sanction the Japanese. Now we only have It’s up to me. In the battle in Shanghai, I just want to show the foreigners! Now in Nanjing, we have to show the foreigners!” After turning around for a while, Chiang Kai-shek said with emotion: "It's just that among the generals, only you understand my heart best. Now the problem of defending Nanjing is the two of us. Either I stay or you Leave."

Hearing this, Tang Shengzhi was startled and thought, you are the chairman of the committee, and you are going to lead the whole country to fight the war. How can you stay and defend Nanjing? Isn't this the general of my army?So he quickly replied: "Chairman, how can you stay? Instead of you staying, why don't I stay!" An imperceptible smile flashed across Chiang Kai-shek's face, and he said, "Okay, okay, Meng Xiao, how do you feel about defending Nanjing?" Tang Shengzhi said: "Chairman, you know the situation in Nanjing. What I am sure I can do is only eight words: not chaotic in the face of danger, and meticulous in the face of difficulties."

Chiang Kai-shek nodded again and again: "That's good, that's good." That night, Tang Shengzhi Mansion in Baiziting, Nanjing. After Tang Shengzhi returned to the mansion, he was full of thoughts, unable to sleep at night, and the past flooded into his mind. Tang Shengzhi was no stranger to Nanjing, and he even left with unforgettable pain and regret in his heart. He is a native of Dong'an, Hunan, a graduate of the first phase of the Baoding Military Academy, participated in the Revolution of 1911, and served as the commander of the Eighth Army of the National Revolutionary Army and the commander-in-chief of the former enemy during the Northern Expedition.He led the troops to fight bloody Tingsi Bridge, overcome Hesheng Bridge bravely, go down to Wuhan, and take Zhengzhou, majestic, mighty, how glorious and brilliant!Later, when Ning and Han were divided, he supported the two lakes and was stationed in Wuhan. He led his troops down the river twice to conquer Chiang in the east, and went straight to Beijing.It's a pity that there was no help from the sky, and his fate was very difficult. He was finally attacked and defeated by various armies mobilized by Chiang Kai-shek. The Nanjing Nationalist Government sent a telegram to dismiss him from all positions and expelled him from the party for the crime of "treason".Tang Shengzhi was forced to step down in 1930 and went into exile in Hong Kong. Since then, he has gone downhill. Now, although Tang Shengzhi resumed his party membership due to uniting against aggression and going to the national disaster together, he has successively served as the president of the military senate and the director of training, but he is still an empty title and cannot grasp the actual military power. Therefore, Tang Shengzhi always has a feeling of depression. Sense of loss.Tang Shengzhi naturally had his own considerations for insisting on defending Nanjing this time. If Chiang Kai-shek accepted this suggestion, the heavy responsibility of defending Nanjing would probably fall on his shoulders.If the defense is successful, then the country is facing a crisis. Tang Shengzhi not only stepped forward and made great contributions to the country and the nation, but also took this opportunity to go out and regain part of the military power; if the defense failed, he even sacrificed his life. Sprinkling blood and dying, can also save the days of being neglected and useless in the world. Now the chairman really ordered him to stay and guard Nanjing. Although he had already been mentally prepared, the matter was so important that he couldn't let him not think about it repeatedly.After deliberating over and over again, he knew that even though he was a general, he had already become a pawn crossing the river at this time, and he could only advance but not retreat. On the evening of the 18th, he came to the venue with this kind of ready to go all out. At the beginning of the meeting, after Liu Fei and Tang Shengzhi each stated their opinions again, all the generals focused their attention on the chairman of the committee.Chiang Kai-shek cleared his voice, and said decisively: "Meng Xiao's opinion is still correct. Nanjing is the capital of our country, and the place where the prime minister's mausoleum is located is subject to international viewing. This battle must be fought hard!" After Chiang Kai-shek made a decision, he then asked: "Now, please consider, who is responsible for defending Nanjing?" As he spoke, he looked around at the generals present.There was silence in the venue, and no one made a sound.Finally, Chiang Kai-shek's eyes fell on Tang Shengzhi.Tang Shengzhi knew that he was already bound by the heavy responsibility of defending Nanjing, so he said passionately: "Chairman, if no one else is responsible, I am willing to make it difficult. I will definitely stick to it and swear to live and die with Nanjing!" His thin, pale face was also slightly flushed. Chiang Kai-shek nodded and said: "Jingzhi (He Yingqin's character), let's do this. If there is anything to prepare, do it right away. Let Meng Xiao see things first, and the order will be issued immediately." That night, Chiang Kai-shek appointed Tang Shengzhi as the commander of the Nanjing Garrison, Luo Zhuoying and Liu Xing as the deputy commanders, and Zhou Lan as the chief of staff. After the meeting ended, Tang Shengzhi walked out of the venue.He knew that defending Nanjing this time would be another crucial moment in his life.Accepting orders in the face of danger, the good and the bad are unpredictable, so I can only do my best and do my best.He looked up at the sky, the sky was full of stars and moons, the cold light was shining, the cool wind was blowing, and the cold air was pressing.Tang Shengzhi left the cemetery mansion with a generous and tragic mood in the chill of early winter. On the 20th, Tang Shengzhi set up the Nanjing Garrison Headquarters in the Nanjing Ministry of Railways Building and began to take up the post. On the 24th, the order was officially issued.Tang Shengzhi finally embarked on the most generous and tragic journey in his life, as well as the most difficult and thrilling journey.