Chapter 33 33. Mysterious Journey: Chiang Kai-shek's Visit to the Soviet Union

Chiang Kai-shek was born in Xikou Town, Fenghua, Zhejiang Province in 1887. His childhood name was Ruiyuan, and his scientific name was Jiang Zhiqing. "Zhongzheng", this name was used in formal occasions later, but the name "Chiang Kai-shek" was not used much. Chiang Kai-shek was born into a down-and-out merchant family. His grandfather and father died in 1894 and 1895, respectively.After separating from his half-brother Jiang Xihou, his mother Wang Caiyu only relied on a small shop in the town and meager land rent to make ends meet, but Chiang Kai-shek's early education was fairly normal. At the age of 14, Chiang Kai-shek married Mao Fumei of the same county by his mother's order. The bride was five years older than the groom.After the New Deal in the late Qing Dynasty, Chiang Kai-shek went east to Japan to study military affairs in 1906, but because he had to be recommended by the Qing court to enter the Japanese Non-commissioned Officer Academy, he returned to China after studying Japanese for half a year.

After returning to China, Chiang Kai-shek applied for the Baoding Army Crash School (Zhejiang has 40 places, but most of them are taken by recommended students from Zhejiang Armed Forces School). .After a year of study and training, Chiang Kai-shek was selected as a non-commissioned officer student studying in Japan because he had studied Japanese in Japan for half a year. In the spring of 1908, Chiang Kai-shek, Zhang Qun and other students arrived in Japan, and then entered Zhenwu School to study for two years, majoring in artillery. In the winter of 1910, he entered the 13th Regiment of the Japanese Field Artillery as an intern as a non-commissioned officer candidate, preparing to officially enter the Japanese Non-commissioned Officer Academy a year later.

The 13th Regiment of the Japanese Field Artillery is based in Takata Town, Niigata County. This is the snowiest place in Japan. The weather is cold and the food is poor. The recruits are often ordered around by officers and senior soldiers. Chiang Kai-shek is no exception. Get up at five o'clock every morning, and then go to the stables to wipe the body of the horse that drags the cannon to ensure the blood circulation of the horse.According to Wang Waishi, the head of the division of the Thirteenth Regiment, Jiang Zhiqing, the second-class soldier who was intern at the time, "has no inner content, and he can't tell what is outstanding."

Before Chiang Kai-shek performed well, the Wuchang Uprising broke out.In fact, Chang Wang Wai Shi did not know that Chiang Kai-shek had already joined the Tongmenghui when he was in Zhenwu School, and made a blood alliance with Chen Qimei, Huang Yu and others. As soon as the revolution broke out, Chen Qimei hurriedly called Huang Yu, Chiang Kai-shek, Zhang Qun and others back to the country to make trouble Chiang Kai-shek didn't say anything about the revolution. He took two days off and went to Tokyo. Then he took off his military uniform and sent it back to the regiment, expressing that he would not return to the regiment and that he did not plan to study at the Japanese Academy for Non-commissioned Officers.Under the call of the revolution, there were 23 non-commissioned cadets or candidate cadets who returned to China with Chiang Kai-shek, and the Japanese side later expelled all of them.Except for Zhang Qun who returned to Japan to continue his studies after the failure of the "Second Revolution" in 1913, none of them received a diploma from the Japanese Military Academy.

After returning to China, although Chiang Kai-shek was appointed by Chen Qimei as the head of the Fifth Regiment of the Shanghai Army, he did not have a good opportunity to perform well, because soon after the North and the South began peace talks, and then the Qing Emperor abdicated, and the 1911 Revolution soon came to an end.During this period, Chiang Kai-shek did a great thing under the instigation of his ally Chen Qimei. He personally led people to carry out the task of assassinating Tao Chengzhang, the leader of the Restoration Society.Afterwards, Chiang Kai-shek went to Japan to avoid the limelight, and the assassination of Tao Chengzhang remained a mystery for a long time. At that time, no one thought that it was "Chairman Chiang" who did it.

In 1916, after Chen Qimei was stabbed to death, Chiang Kai-shek turned to follow Sun Yat-sen.At first, Chiang Kai-shek did not attract Sun Yat-sen's attention. It was not until those revolutionary veterans such as Zhu Zhixin were stabbed to death one after another that Chiang Kai-shek, who had studied military affairs, came into Sun Yat-sen's sight, because in the revolutionary camp at that time, except Xu Chongzhi was Except for authentic Japanese non-commissioned officers, Chiang Kai-shek's half-baked cadets are already scarce talents. After repeated failures, Soviet Russia extended a helping hand to Sun Yat-sen. After Sun Yat-sen and Soviet Russian representative Yue Fei held talks in Shanghai, the Soviet Union promised to provide 2 million gold rubles to the Kuomintang and help establish military schools and provide military supplies. In May 1923, Sun Yat-sen replied to Yue Fei, saying that he would send a representative to Moscow to discuss everything, and the representative was Chiang Kai-shek.

During the five years from 1917 to 1922, Chiang Kai-shek did not do well because he had no soldiers in his hands. Every time he was called to serve in the army of Xu Chongzhi or Chen Jiongming, he made wedding clothes for others, and often He was squeezed out by the Cantonese or Fujian factions in the army, so he also wanted to go abroad for an inspection during this period to increase his political capital. After the "October Revolution" in 1917, Chiang Kai-shek was also very interested. For this reason, he also studied Russian for a period of time and repeatedly mentioned to Sun Yat-sen and some important comrades in the party that he wanted to travel to Soviet Russia once.Therefore, when Sun Yat-sen considered candidates for representatives, he naturally thought of Chiang Kai-shek.

In August 1923, after discussing with the Soviet representative Ma Lin, the Sun Yat-sen delegation was finally determined to go to Russia, with Chiang Kai-shek as the head of the delegation. The delegation included Shen Dingyi, Zhang Tailei, Wang Dengyun and Shao Yuanchong who was already in Europe at that time.Shen Dingyi participated in the Chinese League in his early years, and later participated in organizing the Communist Party of China, but soon left the party; Zhang Tailei was a member of the Communist Party of China and was a member of the Executive Committee of the Youth Communist International; Shao Yuanchong was Sun Yat-sen's confidential secretary, and was visiting the Kuomintang in Europe Overseas organization; Wang Dengyun was an American student studying abroad and served as the English secretary of the delegation at that time.

After many years of long-cherished wish was about to be fulfilled, Chiang Kai-shek was extremely excited. He would rush to make military uniforms, return to his hometown to visit relatives; This kind of matter was very busy for a while.When he was about to set off, Chiang Kai-shek said that he was in a mixed mood. He was happy that he could get rid of the "filthy society" in the country and that "the future was promising." Can't bear to leave Chen Jieru and Jiang Jingguo and Jiang Weiguo's two sons. On August 16, 1923, Chiang Kai-shek got up early in the morning. He first wrote letters to Xu Chongzhi, Liao Zhongkai, Hu Hanmin and his concubine Yao Yecheng in Guangdong, and then went out to visit Zhang Jingjiang, Shao Lizi, Wang Jingwei and others in Shanghai. At noon, Chiang Kai-shek returned to the Dadong Hotel. Chen Jieru took Jiang Jingguo and Jiang Weiguo, and Chen Guofu was already there waiting to see him off.At 1:15 in the afternoon, Chiang Kai-shek, Shen Dingyi, Wang Dengyun, and Zhang Tailei boarded the Japanese ship "Mushen Maru" to Dalian, and then changed to a train to Moscow.

What made Chiang Kai-shek quite emotional was that from Dalian to Changchun and then to Harbin, the so-called "Manchurian Railway Project" was all driven by Japan, and what he saw and heard was like entering Japan.After arriving in Harbin, the delegation transferred to a train operated by the Russian side and continued onward. After arriving in Manzhouli on the 25th, it was the border between China and the Soviet Union.In his letter to Chen Jieru, Chiang Kai-shek said that there were only a thousand households in Manchuria, half of them were Chinese and half of them were Russians, and the so-called "real border is just a long and narrow road without guards, and people can come and go freely." .

After entering the territory of the Soviet Union, Chiang Kai-shek paid much attention to the scenery outside the window. On the way through Chita, he said that the road was beautiful with beautiful mountains and rivers and dense forests; It is also a good view”; after the 29th, the road house began to become a European scene. After more than half a month of long-distance travel, the delegation led by Chiang Kai-shek arrived in Moscow on September 2.After a short break, the delegation received a warm reception from the Soviet Union. Chiang Kai-shek was also very excited about this. He even proposed that the Kuomintang was the "sister party" of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and hoped to learn the successful experience of the Soviet Russian revolution.Afterwards, the two sides talked about specific military cooperation plans. First, the Soviet side promised to establish two military schools for the Chinese Kuomintang. One is a high-level military school, located in Moscow or Leningrad; Places such as Vladivostok. The military combat plan for cooperation with the Soviet Union is the main task of Chiang Kai-shek's visit to the Soviet Union, and it is also highly classified.But after Chiang Kai-shek expressed his preliminary plan, the Soviet side suggested that he elaborate the whole plan in written form for further discussion.In the next few days, Chiang Kai-shek led the delegation to concentrate on writing this plan, which was called "New Prospects for the Chinese Revolution". In this plan, Chiang Kai-shek boldly proposed to establish two military bases in Kulun, Mongolia and Urumqi in Xinjiang. He believed that Kulun is superior to Urumqi in terms of geographical location, combat distance, and strategic location. Recruit workers, recruit peasants from the disaster area as soldiers, conduct training with the help of the Soviet Union, and start attacking two years later; Urumqi is a reinforcement team. After the document was drafted, Chiang Kai-shek did not submit it to the Soviet side immediately, but first discussed and revised it internally, because during this period, the Soviet side arranged many activities for the delegation, among which Chiang Kai-shek was most interested in visiting the Soviet Red Army and military academy.In a speech, Chiang Kai-shek praised the Red Army as "the bravest and most powerful army in the world." He said emotionally: "We are revolutionaries, members of the revolutionary Kuomintang, we are soldiers, we are fighters, we are also Prepare to die in the struggle against imperialism and capitalism. . . . We are here to learn and unite with you. When we return to the Chinese people, inspire them to fight and defeat the military forces in northern China!" Afterwards, the officials accompanying the Soviet side also stated in the top-secret report that Chiang Kai-shek was "in high spirits and agitated, and his speech was full of warm and sincere feelings. When he finished his speech, he was almost roaring and his hands were shaking." .Yes, Chiang Kai-shek was indeed very excited. His speech was interrupted by the prolonged applause from the Red Army soldiers from time to time. Delivered to the car. To be honest, Chiang Kai-shek did show his true feelings this time rather than affectation. He wrote emphatically in his diary that day that although the military discipline and internal affairs of the Red Army were not as good as those of the Japanese army he had been in contact with back then, their troops were "loved from top to bottom, motivated by Naturally, there is no authoritarian atmosphere”; even with the political commissar system implemented in the Red Army, Chiang Kai-shek felt that the division of labor was appropriate and felt good. However, the prices in Moscow surprised Chiang Kai-shek.Once he went out to buy leather shoes and found that the price was 90 gold rubles. Chiang Kai-shek, who has always been a profligate, couldn't help shouting: "It's too expensive!" Also low, very different from what Moscow saw. At this time, Chiang Kai-shek and the members of the delegation had several small frictions with the staff of the Soviet Foreign Affairs Committee, which affected his mood quite a bit.What made Chiang Kai-shek even more unhappy was that there was a dispute when the delegation was discussing the plan. Chiang Kai-shek, who had always been headstrong, was very unhappy. He sighed in his diary that night: "It's really hard to make friends!" A few days later, Chiang Kai-shek again Recorded: "Companions are mixed, Xiao Ran is not happy. It is a pity that it is difficult to make friends!" When it comes to making friends, Chiang Kai-shek has mixed praise and criticism for the four people in the delegation, and the fate of the four people is also very different.The one most appreciated by Chiang Kai-shek was Shao Yuanchong who came from Europe. The two of them changed their musical notes and worshiped in Moscow (Shao was three years younger than Chiang). Member of the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang, Chairman of the Examination Yuan, Vice President of the Legislative Yuan and other important positions. Unfortunately, in the "Xi'an Incident" on December 12, 1936, Shao Yuanchong was hit by a stray bullet and died in the hospital two days later at the age of forty. six years old. Shen Dingyi was an active member of the political arena in the 1920s. He was four years older than Chiang Kai-shek and participated in the revolution earlier. He not only participated in the anti-Qing struggle, but also engaged in parliamentary politics after the Republic of China. He was also exiled overseas because of his opposition to Yuan Shikai. He later became an early member of the founding Communist Party.After the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, Shen Dingyi echoed Dai Jitao's new "Three People's Principles", and later became a member of the "Xishan Conference Faction" (the right wing of the Kuomintang), and was finally assassinated in 1928 at the age of 45. Relatively speaking, Zhang Tailei and Wang Dengyun are much younger.Born in 1898, Zhang Tailei was not only one of the important early leaders of the Communist Party of China, but also the founder of the Chinese Socialist Youth League.When the Soviet representatives Vikingsky, Marin, and Borodin came to China, Zhang Tailei acted as secretary and translator. He was an important role in communicating with the Soviet side, even in this delegation.After the Kuomintang-Communist cooperation broke down, Zhang Tailei died in the Guangzhou Uprising on December 12, 1927 at the age of 29. Wang Dengyun graduated from Peking University in his early years, and later studied at the University of Wisconsin and Georgia City University in Washington. During this period, he also served as the chief writer of the Chinese newspaper "Lion Dance".After returning to China in 1921, Wang Dengyun was appreciated by Sun Yat-sen and served as Sun Yat-sen's English secretary. Later, he was recommended by the Kuomintang veteran Xie Chi to serve as the English secretary of the representative visiting the Soviet Union.However, before the departure of the delegation, Qu Qiubai, the leader of the Communist Party of China, once said that Wang Dengyun was a "rogue" and opposed his visit to the Soviet Union, but failed.During this visit, Wang Dengyun did not seem to have won the favor of Chiang Kai-shek. Although he continued to serve as Chiang Kai-shek's English secretary, his official career was mediocre, and in the end he only served as some vain committee members and councilors.Wang Dengyun later went to Taiwan with Chiang Kai-shek and died in Taipei in 1977. On October 6, Chiang Kai-shek finally finalized the plan and submitted it to the Soviet side in the form of a memorandum. With this, the main task was completed, and the next step was to wait for the Soviet side's reply.At this time, the Soviet side also arranged some recreational activities to entertain the delegation, such as watching parties, ballet performances, etc., and also visited factories and the Kremlin. During his visit to the Soviet Union, Chiang Kai-shek spent a lot of time studying Marxism.Judging from his diary, he has read "Marx Theory", "Summary of Marx Theory", "Economics", "Communist Manifesto", "Marx Biography", "History of German Social Democratic Party" and other books. I have read the book "Theory" at least three times, to the point where I am "too happy to hang up the scroll".In addition, Chiang Kai-shek also read "Das Kapital" and commented that "the first half is boring, but the second half is profound and moving".As Marx's most important economics masterpiece, there are very few people who have actually read Das Kapital, and those who understand it are even rarer.Chiang Kai-shek claimed to have read it, but whether he understood it is still unknown, but this is already commendable. After the memorandum was handed in, Chiang Kai-shek waited for more than half a month and still did not receive a reply from the Soviet side. At this time, he began to become irritable. According to the Soviet Foreign Affairs Commissioner Chicherin wrote to Zinoviev on November 1 Chairman of the Communist International, member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Communist Party of China, Trotskyist), said that Chiang Kai-shek was "extremely nervous, and he thought we didn't take him seriously at all."Deliberate delay seems to be a common practice of the Soviets in diplomatic negotiations, and Mao Zedong was treated the same way when he went to the Soviet Union to negotiate. What made Chiang Kai-shek even more disappointing was that in the final reply to the plan, the Soviet side completely rejected Chiang Kai-shek's plan to establish two base areas. They decisively and resolutely told Chiang Kai-shek that the revolution required "a long period of preparation." "The purely military plan should be postponed until the situation in Europe becomes clear and the CCP completes some political preparations."When meeting with Chiang Kai-shek, Vice Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Soviet Union Skryansky sharply criticized Chiang Kai-shek's military plan, and believed that it was "a risk doomed to failure in advance". After the plan was rejected, Chiang Kai-shek suddenly woke up from his dream. He wrote in his diary with extreme resentment and disappointment: "Whether it is for an individual or for the country, it is better to ask for others than to ask for oneself. No matter how close relatives, friends or allies are, One cannot ignore one's own interests. And one's own foundation, no matter how big or small it is, cannot be underestimated. If you want to succeed, you must start with yourself. External forces are the most unreliable thing." Having said that, Chiang Kai-shek still did not give up. He proposed that before returning to China on November 22, he still hoped to meet Stalin and the Red Army Commander-in-Chief Kamenev again, and wrote a letter to Trotsky, Chairman of the Revolutionary Committee.Because Lenin was seriously ill at that time, it was inconvenient for Chiang Kai-shek's delegation to visit. At this time, the Soviet Stalinist faction and the Trotsky faction had begun to fight each other. Even Chiang Kai-shek, who had not long been in the Soviet Union, could feel this.Trotsky was also ill at the time, but he finally met Chiang Kai-shek's delegation once, but, to Chiang Kai-shek's disappointment, Trotsky was equally staunch in his opposition to his military plans in Mongolia. After several battles over the plan, Chiang Kai-shek also seemed to realize that the Soviet side did not want them to engage in any military operations in Mongolia, because it would affect the national interests of the Soviet Union.Obviously, the Soviet Union has regarded Mongolia as a buffer zone between China and the Soviet Union. They are worried that Chiang Kai-shek's military plan will make Mongolia return to China's control, which they do not want to see.As for the military cooperation in Urumqi, it was not put into practice until after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War. The Soviet Union once provided material assistance to China in the Anti-Japanese War through the route of Urumqi, Xingxingxia, and Hexi Corridor. On November 29, 1923, Chiang Kai-shek and his party boarded a car to return home. This time, Shao Yuanchong still returned to Germany, while Zhang Tailei stayed in Moscow. Only Shen Dingyi, Wang Dengyun and Chiang Kai-shek returned home.Chiang Kai-shek felt "extremely depressed and bored" on the way home because of a quarrel with Shen Dingyi and the fact that his visit to the Soviet Union had little success. On December 10, the delegation arrived in Dalian, then boarded a ship and returned to Shanghai.On board, Chiang Kai-shek began to write the "Report on Touring Russia", preparing to report to Sun Yat-sen. On the morning of the 15th, Chiang Kai-shek returned home in Shanghai and found that Chen Jieru hadn't gotten up yet. Although the previous military plan was rejected by the Soviet side, this trip to the Soviet Union provided excellent conditions for Chiang Kai-shek to make a fortune, because soon after he returned to China, Sun Yat-sen ordered him to prepare for the establishment of the Whampoa Military Academy. It was related to this visit to the Soviet Union, because the Soviet side made adjustments to the plan of aiding the establishment of a military academy, and Chiang Kai-shek, as a participant, was obviously the most suitable candidate at that time.In this regard, Chiang Kai-shek often mentioned this visit in his later articles, and considered it an "important part" of his life. However, Chiang Kai-shek’s understanding through this trip to the Soviet Union was extremely disgusting to the Soviet political system. He also proposed, “Once the Russian communist regime becomes strong, it is not impossible to revive the political ambitions of the Russian tsarist era. Its consequences for the Republic of China and the national revolution will be unimaginable."Sun Yat-sen didn't care about this, and criticized him for "excessive concerns".From these details, it may be seen that it was not without reason that Chiang Kai-shek staged a coup in 1927 and parted ways with the Soviet side. (The article "Chiang Kai-shek's Trip to the Soviet Union in 1923" by Mr. Yang Tianshi was referred to in the process of writing this article, and I would like to express my gratitude.)