Chapter 3 Chapter 3 General Trend

In view of the fact that the Guangdong Nationalist Government is about to step out of the general trend of Guangdong vying for supremacy, it is necessary for us to carefully study the current situation of the subordinate powers, because they have the power to directly or indirectly affect the situation in China. After the end of the "World War I" and before the start of the "World War II", the international situation has undergone great changes, especially in Europe, the main battlefield of the "World War I". In order to help you better understand the situation in Europe, here is a brief introduction to the political geography of Europe.

Although Europeans have similar cultural backgrounds—all cultures are rooted in ancient Greece and Rome, and have similar religious beliefs—Christianity, in the long history of the world, war has been a theme that never fades in Europe, almost Nowhere is there as much war as Europe. This is not an exaggeration. Before the end of World War II, if there were only a few decades of peace on the European land, the European people would happily thank God for his blessing. There are naturally special reasons why European people love fighting so much. Europe is different from China.In the long feudal society, China has been adopting a monarchy system and centralized power since the Qin Dynasty ruled the world. Since the day the emperor climbed to the throne, he has shouted "Under the world, is it the land of the king, the land of the land?" , Is it not the king's subject" slogan, using various means with force as the core, going all out to eliminate forces that threaten or even only potential threats to itself, greatly reducing the probability of rebellion incidents, thus ensuring China's peacetime much longer than the period of war.However, the path taken by Europe is different. They have always been a feudal lordship system. Large and small lords (nobles) ruled on one side and acted on their own. There is only individualism and no collectivism. It is inevitable to fight.

In addition to the reasons for the above-mentioned political system, Europe's geographical environment is also a key reason for its frequent wars. Although Europe has 10 million square kilometers of land, after subtracting the 4 million square kilometers occupied by the "freak" Russia that straddles Europe and Asia, there are only 6 million square kilometers left. On this 6 million square kilometers of land, which is far from being a vast land, there are about 50 countries and more than 100 ethnic groups gathered.The area and population of most countries and nationalities are not as large as that of a Chinese province.In other words, no country or nation occupies the vast majority of the area and population of Europe, and no country or nation has absolute dominance over this land.The result of this complex power structure is that no one will obey anyone, wars continue, and heroes rise together.

Interestingly, these countries in Europe not only like to fight, but also like to form cliques through marriage.Their approach has created a unique phenomenon: the royal (royal) families of European countries are basically relatives. But in the face of cold interests, relatives are often more realistic than strangers.Even because of relative understanding, his hands are extraordinarily precise and ruthless. For example, his nephew King Edward III of England fought for territory and hegemony with his uncle, King Philip VI of France, and set off a 116-year war—the Hundred Years War between Britain and France.This kind of time span, this kind of fighting spirit and determination really puts other professionals who love war to shame.

Of course, this habit of loving and being good at fighting also has a certain relationship with the reality that Europe was too poor at that time, the poorer the poorer the more tossing.But the problem is that everyone is poor, and they can't make much money in a fight.Later, a smart person came up with a solution: go out of Europe, go to the outside world to rob, get rich quickly, and strive to become a glorious upstart. It was Spain and Portugal that turned this line of thinking into reality. In the 15th century, with the support of these two countries, adventurers represented by Dias, Columbus, and Magellan, relying on relatively advanced navigation technology, gradually discovered the route to the three continents of Africa, Asia, and America. The so-called "New Airways" movement.

As a result, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France and other countries were able to go out of Europe, and through the super hooliganism of "piracy, colonization, plunder, trade, drug trafficking, and slave trafficking", they accumulated enough raw materials and primitive capital, which set off Opened the prelude to the first industrial revolution powered by steam. With the rise of the industrial revolution, technology has become the primary productive force.As the source of the first industrial revolution, the United Kingdom, its strength is naturally unsurpassed.As for France, although its industrial revolution started late, relying on its strong foundation, it still managed to maintain its hegemony in Europe with the United Kingdom.

But then a person appeared and changed this pattern.This person is Bismarck, the iron-blooded prime minister of the Kingdom of Prussia. He launched the "Franco-Prussian War" in 1870, defeated France in one fell swoop, unified the German nation, and established a powerful country that likes to engage in extreme nationalism-Germany. Although Germany started late, it has the advantage of being late. At least it can step on the shoulders of Britain, France and other countries to learn from each other's strengths and avoid detours. In addition, the Germans have strong innovation capabilities-Germany is not only a pre-World War II promise. The country with the most Bell Prize winners was also the leader in the chemical industry, electronics industry (such as Siemens) and automobile industry (such as Mercedes-Benz) in the world at that time. Therefore, although Germany was a latecomer, it only took Germany a short period of forty years , not only achieved two points in the field of high-end technology and the United States—one of the two leaders in the second industrial revolution powered by electricity, but also competed with Britain and France in terms of comprehensive national strength. sharp!

Naturally, Germany also needs to obtain raw material suppliers and markets through outward expansion to meet its industrial development needs, but the problem is that at that time, almost all the territories that could be divided in the world were taken by Britain and France, so they had to find another way.The solution that the Germans came up with was to grab it from France and Britain. As a result, Germany recruited the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which had conflicts of interest with Russia in the Balkan Peninsula, and formed a group to rob Britain and France. It happened that France also wanted to seek revenge from Germany for the "Franco-Prussian War", and Britain also needed to guarantee several major trades near the Balkan Peninsula. smooth sailing.As a result, a super group fight - the First World War began.

This was a huge war, with more than 60 million soldiers participating in the war, and the consumption was so huge that even powerful countries like Britain and France had to buy a lot of arms and food from the United States to maintain the war. Germany is very dissatisfied with the US's sideways behavior, so it slapped its head and came up with a stupid trick: to lure the Americans' old enemy, the Mexicans, to attack the arms dealers in the United States.As a result, the Germans dug their own graves, making the United States join the war when both sides were hurting, which became the last straw that broke the camel of Germany.

In November 1918, the war that took nearly five years finally came to an end. The main forces of the war, Russia, Germany, Britain, and France, basically did not settle well. The outbreak of the "October Revolution" in Russia has already been said before, so I won't repeat it here. Although Britain and France, the two most powerful countries on the European continent, won the war, they lost the advantage they once had over the world, so they are also considered losers. The key reason why Britain and France are mixed like this is that the main battlefield of "World War I" is in Britain and France.Fighting with others in your own home is not going to please you no matter what.After all, all the things that were destroyed were their own home, and most of the casualties were their own family members.

Not only the industrial facilities of Britain and France were severely damaged, but also the population was greatly reduced. As a result, the economies of the two countries declined sharply.Britain and France, whose vitality has been greatly injured, have thus become unable to make progress, their control over their colonies around the world has gradually weakened, and their influence on the Far East, including China, has also gradually diminished. To make matters worse, before its economic strength recovered, that is, from 1929 to 1933, another economic crisis broke out in the world, which caused the economy of the two brothers and sisters to slide into the abyss. Strictly speaking, France is much worse than Britain.Because France not only did not take effective measures to deal with the economic crisis, its economic recession was far more severe than that of the United Kingdom, but it also faced serious internal strife. In just 20 years from the end of "World War I" to the beginning of "World War II", France replaced nearly Forty governments, on average, change twice a year, which is really wonderful. As for Germany, the defeated country, it carried about 26 billion U.S. dollars in war reparations, and "returned to before liberation overnight."You must know that the U.S. dollar was very valuable at that time, and all the indemnities in China's modern history plus one dollar were equivalent to one-tenth of Germany's indemnity, which shows the great pressure Germany was facing. But here is a big question, everyone knows that it only took Germany 20 years to start another world war, how did the Germans do it? Rather than saying that the Germans are powerful, it is better to say that the stupid politicians shot themselves in the foot. When negotiating the amount of German compensation, Britain and France had their own plans.With the mentality of using reparations to bring Germany down for revenge, France kept increasing the amount of reparations.However, Britain was worried that France, which had always been at odds with it, would take advantage of the opportunity to take advantage of the indemnity and make it difficult to clean up in the future, so it focused on balancing and creating a balance of power-supporting Germany, restraining France, and taking advantage of Germany's closeness to the Soviet Union to contain the Soviet Union. The "heterogeneous" who engage in communism.But Britain and France tried their best, but they didn't come to a conclusion. When hard work doesn't work, you have to rely on strength to speak.In terms of strength, France is naturally inferior to Britain.Therefore, under the insistence of the British, the amount of Germany's indemnity dropped again and again, and finally fell to more than 20 billion U.S. dollars. Moreover, because the UK was worried that the huge indemnity would overwhelm Germany and cause the other party to be unable to repay the debt, the British, who had not studied "The Farmer and the Snake" well, decided to follow the good guys to the end. The United Kingdom and the United States, which wanted to reach out to Europe, provided huge loans to Germany.The British mud bodhisattva crossing the river naturally can't afford much money, and the main source of loans can only be rich Americans. Of course, the British and Americans also have their own calculations. During World War I, Britain and France applied for a loan of nearly tens of billions of dollars from the United States to buy arms and food from it. After the war, the economies of the two countries were in recession, so they had to rely on German compensation to repay the American loan.Let the Germans who started the war pay for the war, which is right. For the United States, the benefits are even greater.The United States provided loans to Germany, and Germany took the loans to pay compensation to Britain and France, and Britain and France used the money to repay the loans to the United States.In other words, the money returned to the pockets of Americans after a round trip.Not to mention that the Americans have no losses, and they can still charge the Germans a sum of interest.More importantly, after this turn of events, since the US dollar is used for all issuance and settlement, the US dollar has thus established the status of the world currency, and the United States has thus become a big winner. But it seems that this loan does not seem to be of any benefit to the Germans? Of course there are benefits, but it involves some economic principles, which are not easy to understand.To put it simply, the Germans do not directly use the money to repay debts, but use the money to support enterprises and produce things. After revitalizing the country's economy, they use the economic benefits generated by the money, such as taxation, to repay debts. In other words, Germany let the money circulate in the market before repaying the debt.You may have no idea of ​​the economic benefits generated by the flow and turnover of funds. Let me give you an example to deepen your impression.When Apple is performing vigorously, it can use 600 million working capital to earn 13 billion in profits within a year.The profit of more than twenty times is really terrifying! But the Germans did not thank the United Kingdom and the United States for this, especially Hitler, who came to power in 1933. Instead, he refused to continue to repay the loan in the spirit of "the one who owes the money is the master", acting very disrespectful.You must know that Germany has only repaid more than two billion U.S. dollars at this time, but borrowed more than five billion U.S. dollars in loans, and the annual GDP of the United Kingdom at this time is only about ten billion U.S. dollars. Sufficient cash flow, coupled with the fact that the "World War I" did not take place in Germany and the industrial facilities that have been completely preserved, Germany can't develop.Without the support of such an economic and industrial foundation, Hitler would not be able to play the later tricks no matter how hard he tried. Of course, Hitler still has a way of engaging in Nazism. He is extremely good at extreme patriotism and authoritarian dictatorship. He is the perfect spokesperson for racism and fascism. In the process of leading Germany out of the economic crisis that began in 1929 In , this point has been vividly reflected. 1. Mandatory implementation of the financial policy of returning to the primitive society - bartering, bartering, stocks and currencies are not allowed.Although the means are shameless, they can indeed effectively withstand the impact of the financial crisis. 2. Exterminate the wealthy Jewish people and confiscate their property to subsidize German voters in exchange for their support.Hitler's targeting of the Jewish nation in this way has something to do with the way Jews get rich.The Jews have accumulated huge wealth by means of a relatively immoral method-lending usury, and are widely despised by the European people.Like the vampire and miser in Shakespeare's works, Mr. Shylock, the spokesman, is a Jew who lends money. 3. The Daxing project stimulates domestic demand and solves the employment problem of the people at the bottom; supports military enterprises dominated by Junkers (nobility) through massive military orders, and builds good relations with the bourgeoisie. ... Germany is recovering strongly, Britain and France are retreating in strength, and Britain, France, and the United States dare not force Germany too much in order to prevent Hitler from completely repaying the debt, so this is the famous "appeasement policy" in history—— — Concessions to Germany everywhere. To mention a little bit, the United States is striving to become the world's number one debtor country because it wants to retrace the "road to success" that Germany has gone through. Spending so much pen and ink talking about Europe, one is to pave the way for the Second World War, and the other is to explain one thing: Britain and France are busy recuperating, and Germany is busy making a comeback for revenge. The Soviet Union and Japan are also wreaking havoc in China. Therefore, after the end of the "World War I", in this magical and vast land of China, it was mainly the United States, the Soviet Union, and Japan who were playing games.Hob meat, scoundrels, and robbers fight each other, and the process is undoubtedly full of great variables. Let's analyze the United States first. In the early years of the United States, by fighting the Mexicans, killing the Indians, and expanding westward, it seized a vast land and accumulated sufficient capital.Moreover, the United States not only knows how to expand in a brutal and vicious way, but also knows how to build. It is really not comparable to Japan and Russia, which are "good at destroying but amateur in construction". Of course, there is a reason why the United States can immerse itself in construction.The United States is located in the remote North American continent, and there are no powerful and dangerous neighbors around it. Unlike its opponents Germany, the Soviet Union, Japan or even China, which are enemies on all sides, benefiting from this relatively simple and stable geopolitical environment, the United States was able to pass Playing neutral has won the time and space for peaceful development. Although the United States was founded very late, its development speed is much faster than that of Britain and France.The world's leading innovation capability is the fundamental reason why the United States has achieved this. What is more powerful than Germany in the same period is that the United States not only belongs to the top power in the world in terms of scientific and technological innovation-the United States and Germany are also known as the leaders of the second industrial revolution, but also started in the 1940s. In the third industrial revolution, Americans are outstanding, and the management innovation ability of Americans is also at the top level in the world - such as the assembly line technology that originated from Ford, and the modern economic management concept that originated from American enterprises - great corporate management Scholar Alfred D. Chandler has discussed this in detail in his handed down series of works "Qian Trilogy", so I won't make a fuss here. The innovation ability of the United States in science and economics can be fully reflected by the nationality distribution of Nobel Prize winners.Since the establishment of the Nobel Prize in 1901, nearly 50% of the winners of the science awards have been awarded to the United States, and 60% of the winners of the economics awards have been awarded to the United States, which is amazing! With the economy as the cornerstone, technology and management are advancing side by side, making Americans dominate the world in terms of productivity. Other powerful countries such as Germany, Britain, the Soviet Union, and Japan are completely inferior to the United States. Speaking of this, we must emphasize a national policy of the United States: the introduction of foreign talents, because the inflow of foreign talents has greatly enhanced the innovative ability of the United States, such as the peerless genius Mr. Einstein introduced from Germany. Relying on this all-round progress, before and after the First World War, the United States quietly surpassed the United Kingdom in terms of economic aggregate, economic structure, and advanced productivity, and became the world's number one economic and industrial power. After talking about economy and technology, here I would like to introduce a famous political figure to you—Roosevelt, the only president in American history who served three consecutive terms. His role was indispensable in the history of the 1930s and 1940s. If you want to talk about Roosevelt, you have to mention Coolidge, the president of the United States at this time.This man has a way of engaging in market economy. When Britain, France, and Germany were still panting because of the "World War I", he led the Americans to achieve brilliant economic achievements in the 1920s, known as the "Coolidge Boom" in history.It's a pity that Coolidge believed too much in the role of the market, which eventually led to the world economic crisis that began in 1929-the Great Depression, and it was not guaranteed at the end of the year. The succeeding president, Hoover, had no skills. Apart from supporting Germany with the British and suppressing unemployed workers by force, he didn't have any outstanding achievements. He stepped down after serving one term. At this time, Roosevelt appeared.This person is very smart. He discovered the root cause of the economic crisis and prescribe the right medicine to strengthen the government's role in regulating and intervening in the market, improving the economic system and saving the US economy. This is the so-called "Roosevelt New Deal". In addition to being a good hand in economics, Roosevelt will also have an outstanding performance in "World War II", but this is a matter of the future, and the topic will first return to the US policy toward China. The United States, which surpasses the United Kingdom in comprehensive strength, naturally wants to taste the taste of being the boss, gain a leadership position in the relationship between the great powers and China, and open up the hegemony of the Far East, and the "open door" is his stepping stone. However, because the United States entered China late, facing the reality that there is not much territory and interests left, if it wants to gain a firm foothold in China, it must constantly adjust its policies and find the best agent.After in-depth understanding and multiple investigations, and through technical means such as seduction, softening and appropriate force deterrence, the Americans found the best candidates for the corresponding stage-Wu Peifu and Chiang Kai-shek. The story between the United States and Wu Peifu has already been told, and the story between the United States and Chiang Kai-shek will unfold below. Although the Soviet Union is a behemoth with the gene of "absolute admirer of power and interests", it still had a hard time in the first ten years of its founding.First, due to the destruction of the war and the turmoil of change, its economy has declined sharply. Second, because of ideological reasons, it has been imposed an economic blockade and diplomatic isolation by Europe and the United States (except Eastern Europe). If you want to become a grandpa, you must first learn to pretend to be a grandson.The Soviet Union, which is currently not strong enough, is no exception. It can only implement a "breathing policy" and keep a low profile.However, as a very ambitious country, it is impossible for it to learn from the Qing Dynasty and practice seclusion, so it puts its hope of getting rid of diplomatic isolation on China. At the beginning, the Beiyang government looked down on it because it had already received support from Europe and the United States, and refused to cooperate.Fortunately, after some hard work, the Soviet Union found hope in the Guangdong Nationalist Government, the then Chinese Communist Party, and Feng Yuxiang.After some hard work, Joffe's successor, the Soviet ambassador to China, Garakhan, and Cao Kun's foreign minister, Gu Weijun, signed the "Sino-Russian Outline Agreement and Declaration on Resolving Unsolved Cases", promising to give up Tsarist Russia in China, including All interests including the territory, recognize that Outer Mongolia is an inalienable territory of China.In the end, the Soviet Union relied on this unreliable flicker in exchange for the formal establishment of diplomatic relations with the Beiyang government. Apart from diplomatic considerations, the Soviet Union still has a reason to pay attention to China—geopolitics.The bordering and rejuvenating China, the dangerous and powerful Japan across the sea, and the complex backyard of the overall situation - the Far East, forced the Soviet Union to devote a considerable part of its attention to the Far East for its own benefit, and through such methods as China supports forces, encourages China and Japan to contain each other, and even breaks out of war. Such dark means as represented by "wedge" and "stumbling" are used to slow down the development of China and Japan, the two largest potential opponents in the Far East. The leader of the Soviet Union at this time was Stalin.After Lenin's death in 1924, Stalin relied on his outstanding political skills to defeat his political opponent Trotsky and several political allies successively, and thus secured the top position in the Soviet Union. dictatorship from 1952 to 1952). Stalin was very good at politics, and he was also good at economics. Thanks to the centralization system and state-run system of the Soviet Union, Stalin was able to give full play to the power of the planned economy. Under his leadership, the Soviet Union passed two five-year plans and became the second largest economy in the world before the start of World War II. , and its economic aggregate is close to 60% of the US economic aggregate. Thanks to the European and American isolation and blockade policies against the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union avoided the Great Depression. Thanks to the Great Depression, which allowed ideology to retreat to the second line, the Soviet Union had the opportunity to buy advanced equipment and technology from Europe and the United States (overproduction, unable to sell), and to introduce technical talents (a large number of workers were unemployed), thus greatly improving its industry. Level.In other words, in the 1930s, almost all the backbone large-scale enterprises in the Soviet Union were armed with advanced Western technology.For example, the three major iron and steel plants in the Soviet Union were all completed by the technology, equipment and talents of the United States and Germany. Although the contribution of the Soviet Union to scientific development was much weaker than that of the United States, Germany, and Britain in the same period, before the start of World War II, the Soviet Union was second only to the United States and Germany in terms of industrial scale and production capacity. industrial powerhouse. In this troubled world, strength is everything.The Soviet Union, with its strong economic and industrial strength, naturally has the strength to participate in the game of global hegemony, which to a certain extent determines the direction of the world situation. The most important thing is that in terms of war potential, the Soviet Union was able to join the United States and Germany in the super-class group because it has three rare advantages. Advantage 1, although its economic structure is extremely unreasonable - heavy industry and light industry, but it is also good to focus on heavy industry - the defense industry is developed. The second advantage is that all citizens need to serve the country free of charge, and the country can expropriate and allocate resources at will, so the Soviet Union's war mobilization ability (unified mobilization of manpower, material resources, and financial resources to serve the war) is very strong. Advantage three, the climate is cold, the country is vast, with a span of 9,000 kilometers from east to west, and 4,000 kilometers from north to south. Strictly speaking, Russia, the main body of the Soviet Union, has mediocre combat capabilities. Russia was defeated when it faced Napoleon in 1812, Japan in 1904, and Germany in World War I.But why did Russia not perish in the face of such aggressive opponents as France, Japan, and Germany? There is no other reason: Russia has a vast land and a cold climate, so if it can't beat the opponent, can't it drag the opponent to death? Even though Napoleon broke through Moscow, the capital of Russia, there was nothing he could do about the fleeing tsar, because Russia's land area was too vast.As the offensive side, the supply line of Napoleon's army was as long as 2,500 kilometers, and the logistical supplies could not keep up. However, the Russians did not need to fight Napoleon head-on, but only needed to clear the fields and fight guerrillas through strong walls, consuming the opponent's clothing, food, and ammunition The moment when the supplies were exhausted and the troops were forced to retreat.Sure enough, Napoleon was dragged to starvation and cold, so he had to take the initiative to withdraw his troops. Let’s stop here for the time being about the Soviet Union, and then let’s focus on Japan. If you want to say who among the United States, the Soviet Union, and Japan attaches the most importance to China, it must be Japan.There is no way, as Japan has the worst geographical conditions, so bad that it can be called tasteless.What the specific difference looks like will be analyzed in detail below. Japan is an island country with a narrow territory and extremely scarce resources.The lack of mineral resources is fine, but the Japanese don't even have enough rice, the staple food.Even because of the tight supply of rice, a riot involving two million people broke out in Japan-the "1918 Rice Robbery Riot". Japan is not only a small country with few resources, but also has many disasters. Volcanoes, earthquakes, typhoons and tsunamis occur frequently, and earthquakes are particularly serious. For example, the "Great Kanto Earthquake" that occurred in September 1923 not only killed hundreds of thousands of people, but also destroyed countless industrial facilities and severely damaged the Japanese economy. The tragedy is that Japan also caught up with the Great Depression, but the Japanese did not have the two brushes of Hitler, Roosevelt and Stalin, so they could only sit and watch their industry and economy, which already belonged to the second-rate powers, get worse. Innate conditions are extremely poor, and the results of acquired efforts are not very good. In addition, Japan still has the idea of ​​​​becoming the boss of Asia. The pressure on the Japanese is indeed not small, but this pressure cannot be relieved by fishing in the sea . With the Japanese's consistent belligerence and nouveau riche mentality, the only way is to take off their pants and play militarism, desperately develop the military industry (for example, Japan successfully developed the world's first aircraft carrier in 1922), implement external expansion, and learn from neighbors. Looted by North Korea and China. Let’s not talk about the Japanese bullying North Korea. It is said that after Japan entered Northeast China through the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War, it ignored the fact that it was still a poor country as a debtor country at that time, and repeatedly increased its investment and borrowing in China, especially in Northeast China, and almost went bankrupt. Japan is like a crazy gambler who dares to spend desperately despite not having much money.The Japanese spend money so crazily, of course they have their purpose.Their purpose is very realistic and evil - to build Northeast China into their new home. But the problem is that Japan’s investment in China accounts for nearly 90% of its total overseas investment, which has caused its economic development to rely heavily on profits and resources from China. Once China is dominated by the Soviet Union and the United States, it is equivalent to breaking the bank for Japan. Blood, very deadly. Therefore, on the China issue, the contradictions between Japan, the Soviet Union and the United States are irreconcilable.The reason why Japan has not broken face with the opponent is because it is not yet time for the final showdown. The leader of Japan at this time was Emperor Showa Hirohito, a dangerous person with great ambitions and insidiousness. Hirohito’s grandfather, Emperor Meiji Muhito, was in average physical condition and died of uremia at the age of 60. His father, Taisho Emperor Yoshihito, had even worse physical condition. He suffered from meningitis when he was a child, and cerebral thrombosis in middle age. , died at the age of 47.But the strange thing is that Hirohito lived to be 88 years old, and has been in power for nearly 70 years, making him the emperor with the longest reign.After thinking about it, it must be due to the short life of his grandfather and father. According to the power structure of a constitutional monarchy, theoretically the emperor has no real power, and the cabinet is the real power giver. But rules are dead, people are alive, and there are people who don't play cards according to the rules at any time.The guy who doesn't follow the rules here is Emperor Meiji.He opened a back door for himself in the "Constitution of the Great Japanese Empire"-the power to command the navy and army, as well as the establishment and strength of the army belong to the emperor.That is to say, from the beginning of the Meiji Emperor to the end of the "World War II", the three Japanese emperors could intervene in military affairs and all had military personnel power. Specifically, the Japanese military department—the highest direct command organization of the Japanese Army and Navy (Army Staff Headquarters, Navy Command Headquarters) and military decision-making organs (Ministry of the Army, Ministry of the Navy) are independent of the cabinet and parliament and directly control the emperor. Responsible. Muren's ability is very strong, with military power in his hands, he means what he says.But his son Jiaren couldn't do it. Because of a brain problem, no one regarded him as an emperor, and power gradually fell to the hands of the veteran of the Meiji Restoration and the power minister Yamagata Youtomo who monopolized the military power. After the ambitious Hirohito succeeded to the throne, he naturally couldn't tolerate Shanxian Youpeng staying in the power minister's seat, because he also likes power, and he couldn't tolerate someone sitting in that seat dictating him, and he wanted to drive him away! However, this idea is okay if you think about it occasionally, but you can't do it if you really do it, because he doesn't have enough strength at hand, and it's easy to drive the opponent away instead of being driven out.Therefore, Hirohito needs allies very much, and someone needs to stand up and support him. It should be said that Hirohito's luck was good. At this time, a group of young army officers who were later called the "ruling faction" were planning and purposefully creating a rebellion against Youpeng in Shanshan County.Almost all of them graduated from the most outstanding military academy in Japan - the Army Non-commissioned Officer Academy and the Army University, such as the Japanese fascist backbone Nagata Tieshan, Okamura Ningji, Obata Toshiro, Dong Jo Hideki, Kawamoto Daisaku, Ishihara Wanji, Sakagaki Seishiro, Doihara Kenji, Isoya Rensuke, Umezu Yoshijiro, Matsui Iwane and others are among them. These people chose to rebel for a good reason. First, the military personnel are corrupt, and they have little hope of promotion and salary increase. At that time, almost all the middle and high-ranking officers of the Japanese army and navy were the relatives of the army tycoon Yamamoto who was originally from Changzhou (Changzhou faction) and the naval tycoon Gonbei Yamamoto whose hometown was from Satsuma. (Samo faction), that is to say, the promotion of military officers is almost all based on fighting for fathers and relationships, which is very unfavorable for grass roots with insufficient background. Secondly, these Japanese devils still have their own political ideals. Most of them have been educated or worked in foreign countries (mainly Germany), and they are well aware of the gap between Japan, Germany, and Japan and the United States, so they want to overthrow the old-fashioned Shan County Youtomo, and promote the modernization of the military in order to achieve Its robber logic blueprint - annex Manchuria and Mongolia, control China, establish a military dictatorship inside, curb domestic economic recession, and quickly strengthen Japan.The terrible thing is that their ideal has a great market among the junior officers of the Japanese Army. Hirohito wants to drive away Shanxian Youpeng, and the "ruling faction" also wants to overthrow Shanxian Youpeng.Hirohito has status and power, and the "control faction" has ability and strength, and they are of value to each other.The two sides hit it off and launched an attack on the Changzhou faction in 1925. The reason why we chose to launch it in 1925 was because of the biggest resistance—Youtomo Yamagata was overwhelmed by illness and died; secondly, because Japan’s depressed economy at this time provided a perfect excuse—disarmament to alleviate the The financial burden of the state; the third is because Hirohito's teacher and senior student of the "ruling faction" Kazusei Ugaki finally became the Minister of War. Time, people and harmony are all there, so why not do it?Thus, the extremely important "Ugaki disarmament" in modern Japanese history began.Nearly 2,000 officers from Changzhou were purged out of the Japanese Army, and those officers from the "ruling faction" were arranged by Hirohito to enter the military headquarters as a section chief (a mid-level position). Hirohito finally took an important step in mastering military power. The Yamato nation is a very strange nation. It is obviously extremely insecure due to innate inadequacies, and it is extremely fond of external expansion, but it is extremely restrained and self-disciplined.For example, in the Japanese military department at that time, its top leaders were almost all mediocre people who relied on their seniority. In fact, it doesn't matter if you have poor ability. After all, power and status are there, and you should be able to control the right to speak.But the strange thing is that these senior officers of the military department are far less effective than those of the young officers. If you think about it carefully, you can figure it out.These young and strong officers are capable and powerful, and Hirohito wants to work through them, so he will inevitably indulge them.Furthermore, these military officers are not qualified enough and their status is not high, and they need to use Hirohito's leadership to realize their own interests.In this situation of Hirohito's acquiescence, these "sangs" of Dongying island countries have put a sacred label on themselves for the convenience of work-serving the emperor and fighting for "patriotism".So once they are offended, the light ones will classify the other party as a "non-citizen" (equivalent to a Chinese traitor), and the serious one will make the other party "die to death", even their leaders can't afford to provoke them. Therefore, in Japan before the end of World War II, the decision-making was often made by the middle-level officers of the military department, and its upper-level leaders were instead emptied, forming a peculiar power structure of "the lower overcomes the upper". It is not surprising that those middle- and lower-level officers who are not in the military department dare to rebel against the superior officers. I believe that everyone has seen such scenes in film and television dramas: the lower-level officers are willing to go their own way, murderous, and see blood, while the higher-level officers still dare not provoke these gangsters and have to make concessions... In any case, Hirohito and the "ruling faction" successfully controlled Japan's military decision-making power. For the Asian people who hope for peace, this is definitely an extremely dangerous signal. Well, the introduction to Europe, the United States, the Soviet Union, and Japan ends here, let us turn our attention to China. At this time in China, the Nationalist Government in the south was mobilizing its troops, and the Great Revolution was in full swing, while in the north, the "changing king's banner at the top of the city" was being staged. Feng Yuxiang launched a coup in Beijing to drive away the direct lineage, and then Sun Yat-sen went north, but before Sun Yat-sen arrived in Beijing, Feng Yuxiang had already left Beijing. 为什么这位仁兄屁股都没坐热就离开了中国的政治中心？ 理由无他。无论是冯玉祥的资历与能力，还是他临阵卖主的倒戈经历，都让他难以服众、难以得到尊重。手握重兵的各地军阀都不认可他，尤其是直系孙传芳，还有喘过气来的吴佩孚，都反对他留在北京。 所以，冯玉祥被迫去了张家口，黯然出任西北边防督办，其军队也由此被称作西北军。 此事让老冯有些郁闷，他郁闷的时候就爱植树。后来老冯在西北植了很多树，成了保护环境的先进工作者。 当然了，冯玉祥愿意离开北京，也是因为捞到了足够多的好处。西北边防督办可不是白当的，察哈尔、绥远、西北一带都成了他的新地盘。 而且，在段祺瑞的平衡手段运作之下，他在“直奉战争”中的搭档张作霖捞到的好处并不比他多，这让他心态比较平衡。 冯玉祥做西北边防督办，张作霖干东北边防督办，继冯玉祥开往西北之后，张作霖也离开了北京。张作霖乖乖地离开北京，自然也是有理由的。 在段祺瑞和冯玉祥的默许下，张作霖的手下李景林、张宗昌、杨宇霆、姜登选先后出任直隶、山东、江苏、安徽督办，也就是说他拿到了四块地盘，只不过江苏和安徽还得从直系手中抢才行。 此外，他还有一个以退为进的想法。他不想花太多的心思在北京跟段祺瑞钩心斗角搞政治斗争，他要集中所有的精力和资源统一全中国。一旦中国在手，到时候北京还不是他想来就来想走就走？ 1925年1月底，也就是广东大本营筹划第一次东征的时候，奉军先锋张宗昌进入上海，至盛夏的6月，奉军已大举南下，直逼长江流域，奉军势力达到顶峰，奉系和直系的又一场战争一触即发！ 也就是在这期间，张作霖的大公子、24岁的英俊少年张学良也来到了上海，他在这里结识了一个清新脱俗的知性女子，一位20世纪最有传奇色彩的女性，她就是宋家三小姐——宋美龄。 宋美龄从小在美国接受现代教育，知书达理。不过在她温柔娴静的外表下，却有一颗刚毅的心。大姐二姐都嫁了当世豪杰，她这个小妹也不甘落于姐后，可当世能媲美大姐夫二姐夫的金龟婿实在太难钓了，连二姐夫孙中山引荐的优质“高富帅”谭延闿都不合心意，最终以结拜兄妹的方式降温处理，那些寻常男子又岂能入宋小姐法眼。 所以28岁的宋三小姐仍然云英未嫁，待价而沽。 1925年6月中旬的一个晚上，在美国驻上海领事馆举行的Party上，张学良和宋美龄相识了。 张学良是典型的“官二代”加“富二代”，有权、有钱、有自信，何况还有一个“民国美男”的名号。 自信的男人总是分外胆大，于是张学良开始约会宋美龄。张学良晚年回忆说，他们私下约会过好几次。至于他们的约会内容是去看电影，还是喝咖啡，又或是更旖旎的活动……张学良就不说了。 故事最后的结局大家都知道了。宋美龄成了第一夫人，张学良成了阶下囚。 不过，这样一个操东北腔的高富帅与一个说吴侬软语的白富美之间的一段暧昧，倒是给大家留足了想象的空间。 拿下上海后，张学良的老子张作霖仍不满足，一来直奉大战的奖品——江苏和安徽还未拿到手，二来张作霖也有武力统一全中国的野心，所以他是一门心思地积极策划摆平直系势力盘踞的长江流域。 这一次，轮到直系面对生存危机。危急关头，孙传芳和吴佩孚站了出来，担负起了保全自己、挽救直系的重任。 是不是很奇怪，之前输得精光的吴佩孚居然敢站出来与张作霖唱反调？不用奇怪，因为吴佩孚已恢复元气。别看其麾下第一悍将彭寿莘在第二次直奉大战后厌倦红尘隐居了，跟随他来到武汉的都是残兵败将，其实这些人都是身经百战的精锐，吴佩孚就以这些人为班底，又打造出了一支精锐之师。 在孙传芳和吴佩孚的串联下，直系成立了浙闽苏皖赣五省联军，结成了强大的反奉联盟。1925年10月，反奉联盟组成“讨贼联军”起兵反击。 北洋几大军阀之间的倒数第二场大战——“浙奉战争”（“反奉战争”）拉开了序幕。 直系不仅占据本土作战的优势，而且战斗力也比奉军强。孙传芳手下的头号大将——其在日本陆军士官学校的同学卢香亭，带着孙传芳的起家本钱——北洋第二师，秒杀了奉系所谓的精锐：姜登选、张宗昌和杨雨霆，特别是张宗昌的王牌部队——凶残的白俄士兵雇佣军，也在卢香亭手中覆灭。奉军的境况怎一个惨字形容！ 仅用了六天，联军便击退奉军，占领上海。在接下来的一个多月中，讨贼联军节节胜利，奉军被逐出长江流域。 后院起火！就在奉军节节败退的时候，张作霖迎来了有生以来最严峻的一次考验。张作霖麾下的悍将、张学良的结拜兄弟、奉军第三军团副军团长郭松龄在滦州造反！ 郭松龄反戈一击的理由很有说服力，受了欺负岂能不反抗？ ! 之前说过张作霖对东北军的领导班子进行调整的事（整军经武），这里不再重复。当时众人都只看到了人事变动带来的好处：在毕业于正规军校的军事干部的带领下，东北军战斗力大幅提升。没有人意识到，这次人事变动居然会引发新的问题。 问题出在被张作霖提拔起来的两大核心将领杨宇霆和郭松龄身上。这两人权欲都极强，在军中拉帮结派，以各自学校为名组成士官派（杨宇霆毕业于日本陆军士官学校）和陆大派（郭松龄在北京陆军大学进修过）争权夺利。虽然郭松龄和张学良的关系很铁，但也架不住杨宇霆的靠山是张作霖。因此，杨宇霆逐渐在与郭松龄的斗争中占据了上风。尤其是在第二次直奉战争结束后划分好处时，杨宇霆和其盟友姜登选拿到了江苏、安徽督办，而郭松龄什么都没捞到。 有功而不得赏，令郭松龄对从中作梗的杨宇霆极其愤怒，也对杨宇霆的后台张作霖极为失望！更何况郭松龄早年出自同盟会，跟着孙中山战斗过，受到了三民主义的洗礼，本就不大看得上跟日本人勾勾搭搭、思想作风过于军阀的张作霖。 于是郭松龄决定造反。 他在反戈之前，拖了两个人下水。一个是欠他人情、老受东北籍军官歧视的河北籍好兄弟李景林——“五虎将”之一的奉军第一军团军团长，另一个是张作霖潜在的强大竞争对手——别有居心的冯玉祥。三人约好了：郭松龄起兵后，李景林和冯玉祥予以配合，共同反奉。 11月23日，郭松龄率麾下七万精锐在滦州举旗造反，起兵口号极有煽动性：反对内战！惩办罪魁杨宇霆！张作霖下野！张学良上台！ 近代东北在清朝灭亡后最大的一次战乱正式爆发！ 郭松龄造反的决心十分坚定。张学良本想亲自出马劝说曾经的好兄弟放下屠刀，可郭松龄拒绝见面，只是通过报纸告诉张学良：你对我的好我都记着，但这个反我造定了，谁劝都没用！话音刚落就把因为出差路过他地盘的姜登选给杀了。 张学良一看就明白了：郭松龄已经不想回头，也回不了头。算了，放弃吧，就让曾经的一切在这场战争中随风逝去！ 郭松龄自己是一员猛将，手下又是奉系精锐，再加上事起突然，顿时打了张作霖一个措手不及。起兵五天后，郭松龄拿下山海关，随后一路高歌猛进，进逼张作霖的大本营——沈阳城！ 就在张作霖打算弃城而逃的关键时刻，有人出手救他！ 第一个给张作霖递救生圈的人居然是冯玉祥！ 冯玉祥又食言了，其实也不算什么，这是他人生的常态。不过要说清楚冯玉祥食言这事，还得从他先前答应郭松龄反奉的内幕讲起。这事跟苏联有很大的关系。 话说中国北方局势的发展让苏联和共产国际大受鼓舞，于是苏联驻华大使加拉罕设计了一个投入不大但可能回报惊人的革命计划——“首都革命”：收买冯玉祥，让其率军进攻北京政府，同时由国共两党发动北京的工人群众予以配合，三家联手推翻段祺瑞、张作霖二人把持的北京政权，给日本帝国主义下些绊子。 可加拉罕为什么会选中冯玉祥当这个计划的主角？这是因为在苏联人的眼中，冯玉祥是一个有利用价值的进步军阀。其实力看起来很强大不说，他还发动过“北京政变”，而且从1925年开始学习孙中山的三民主义，让苏联觉得他思想进步，与其他军阀相比，更容易被招为己用。 苏联与冯玉祥的联络人是咱们熟悉的李大钊。李大钊找到冯玉祥：如果你同意进行首都革命，苏联会在军事和经济上援助你。 冯玉祥很高兴地答应了。他没有理由不答应，这可是壮大实力的难得机会。 李大钊没给冯玉祥开空头支票，苏联人拿出了近千万卢布的好处：步枪，机枪，大炮，防毒面具，飞机，电话……应有尽有。 冯玉祥刚应付完李大钊和苏联人，郭松龄也找上门来了，郭松龄想和他谈谈反张作霖的生意。 冯玉祥认真思考了做这笔生意的好处：反张作霖也算是满足与苏联的合作条件，拿了苏联的好处不能不干活。再说了，你们窝里斗正好方便我坐收渔利。一箭双雕。因此，冯玉祥也就卖了郭松龄一个顺水人情。 接下来，郭松龄、冯玉祥、李景林三人将合作意向以条约的形式——《郭冯密约》固定下来。该条约的核心内容是打败张作霖之后地盘如何分配，当然也顺便提了提造反的目的：革命，消灭军阀。 但是当郭松龄和张作霖打起来之后，三个盟友之中纸面实力看起来最为强大的冯玉祥便决定违约了。因为局势的发展完全出乎冯玉祥的意料，张作霖太弱了，败得太干脆了，完全没有三家合伙的必要，单干就行，我冯玉祥一人把你们全灭掉，地盘都是我的。 在利益面前，要保持忠诚和信义是一件很难的事情。 11月28日，冯玉祥起兵断了郭松龄的后路，让没有退路的郭松龄专心地跟张作霖死磕去吧！ 同日，冯玉祥部进逼李景林的地盘——天津。 同日，李大钊在北京发动数万民众示威游行，包围北京政府，尝试运动夺权，失败。史称“首都革命”。 12月4日，李景林宣布：支持张作霖，讨伐冯玉祥。 李景林是武当派的传人，真正的武林高手，江湖外号“武当剑仙”。但此人的人品远逊武功，是棵标准的墙头草。 冯玉祥一反，李景林便根据当前局势和自己多年的江湖经验，做出一个合理的判断：好兄弟郭松龄完蛋的概率远比老板张作霖高。死道友不死贫道，为了自己活命，李景林遂举兵反抗冯玉祥，顺便支持张作霖，跟兄弟郭松龄挥手说再见。 虽然李景林在二十天后输掉了与冯玉祥的战争，但他破灭了冯玉祥想把大家一窝端的计划，为张作霖赢得了宝贵的喘息时间，正所谓雪中送炭。 北方一片乱战。 就在此时，张作霖的第二个救星到了。张作霖的老关系户——日本人出兵沈阳。日本人救张作霖可不是为了发扬国际主义精神，而是因为拿到了张作霖给出的好处——《日奉密约》，以及对郭松龄的三民主义背景和冯玉祥背后的苏联人不放心。 在日本人和张作霖的两面夹击下，本就进退维谷的郭松龄在起兵一个月之后被俘，旋即被张作霖处决。如果人可以死而复生，想必郭松龄很难放过冯玉祥。 在经历了直系、郭松龄的连环打击之后，张作霖再也没有武力一统中国的雄心和实力。更重要的是，天下没有免费的午餐，日本人此次出兵隐藏着更阴暗的目的：趁机入驻沈阳。两年后，张作霖就将为自己的引狼入室付出惨痛的代价。 打完“反奉战争”，获利最丰的是孙传芳和冯玉祥。 孙传芳在击败奉军之后，自任浙闽苏皖赣五省联军总司令，兵力高达二十万人，成为后直系时代能跟吴佩孚平起平坐的带头大哥。孙传芳还请来自己在日本陆军士官学校的师兄冈村宁次做军事顾问，可这名日后的侵华日军总司令哪能给他出什么好主意，小鬼子来中国的主要目的是为五年后开始的战争踩点。 至于冯玉祥，虽说为人有点反复无常，但这一次捞取的好处非常大。他不仅趁机扩编队伍，还占据了直隶、天津、河南、察哈尔、甘肃、绥远等地，超越“东北王”张作霖，成为占地最广的军阀。 缓过气来的张作霖稍做休整之后，就立即出兵华北。 难得的是，张作霖、吴佩孚这二位仇家居然选择联手，宣布彼此停战，共同对付目前看起来最为强大的冯玉祥。 世上果真是唯有永恒的利益，没有永恒的敌人。 面对张作霖与吴佩孚的南北夹击，冯玉祥顿感信心不足，他决定暂时从名义上屈服，缓解一下恶劣的形势。于是，冯玉祥在1926年元旦当天宣布下野，命手下张之江代理总司令。 对于服软的冯玉祥，张作霖和吴佩孚是否会放过他，下文再说。 冯玉祥成为苏联人的“香饽饽”之际，蒋介石却受到了截然不同的待遇。 既为了实现孙中山的主张和遗愿，更为了实现个人抱负，蒋介石从1926年1月开始，便全力推动各方支持他率军北伐。但他没想到，自己竟然遭到了苏联顾问团的集体反对。 为首的反对者叫季山嘉。加伦因为有更重要的任务被调回国之后，斯大林派来接替他的钦差大臣季山嘉同志就来到了广州。 季山嘉给出的反对理由是：广东国民政府的实力不行，再度北伐的时机不成熟，你们应该海运军队北上，与冯玉祥会合后从北边进攻北京政府。 但这绝不是真正的理由，因为真正的理由隐藏在解密的历史资料和有效证据中。 事情的真相是：斯大林认为蒋介石发动一统中国的北伐会强烈刺激到直系和奉系背后的英、日等国，会给被欧美孤立的苏联惹出麻烦，让苏联强敌环饲的外部环境更加糟糕（在中国北方要容忍日本，革命工作不能过左；在南方不能刺激英国……拟议中的北伐在目前时刻是不容许的——马连儒《北伐问题争论的演变与争夺领导权斗争的实质》）。因此，斯大林的妙策是在中国扶持一些力量牵制英、日等国，给对方使些绊子——如掀翻亲英、美、日的北洋政府，但不要把对方逼成狗急跳墙。 受苏联和斯大林的影响，汪精卫的立场也出现了动摇，常常夹在季山嘉和蒋介石中间打酱油。 此外，相对熟悉蒋介石性格和中国国情的另外一个苏联顾问鲍罗廷，因为倾向北伐的态度以及自身的背景不够硬，被季山嘉在上级面前打了小报告，被迫离开广州，回国述职去了。 相对了解中国国情的加伦、鲍罗廷先后离开中国，这对广东国民政府来说绝对不是一件好事。更致命的是，季山嘉可不是光说不练的假把式，这位仁兄还采取了积极行动：在蒋介石的嫡系第一军之中挖墙脚，试图把王懋功第二师拉出去，以削弱蒋介石，但遭到了蒋介石的坚决反抗——扣押王懋功，任命刘峙为第二师师长。 跟季山嘉撕破了脸，跟苏联顾问关系的不和谐，令蒋介石神经紧绷，寝食难安，坐卧不宁。接下来又发生了一些事情，令蒋介石窥见了一个解脱困境的机会，并铤而走险，发动了中国近代史上的一件大事。此事便是“中山舰事件”，又称“三·二○”事件。