Chapter 19 Chapter Eleven 1927: The Month of Tragedy

In early February 1927, the early spring was cold and chilly. Yu Qiaqing, the 60-year-old chairman of the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce, sailed westward on a small passenger ship. The two sides of the Yangtze River were heavily guarded by soldiers, and there was a chilling scene of an imminent war.Yu Qiaqing went to Nanchang to visit Chiang Kai-shek, the former commander-in-chief of the Northern Expedition Army.Even he himself would not have imagined that in the century-old commercial history of contemporary China, this trip would directly lead to the complete end of the era of Chinese entrepreneurs and the abrupt end of a golden business cycle.

After 1917, the Kuomintang was expelled from Beijing, the center of power, and occupied a corner of Guangdong. On September 7, 1926, the National Revolutionary Army swore in Guangzhou for the Northern Expedition. It first defeated the Beiyang warlord Wu Peifu in the West Lake area of ​​Huizhou, and then defeated Sun Chuanfang, commander-in-chief of the Allied Forces of the Five Provinces in October. In December, the army of the Northern Expedition arrived in Nanchang, set up the commander-in-chief Xingyuan, and pointed the arrows at Shanghai fiercely.The commander-in-chief of the Northern Expedition Army was Chiang Kai-shek, who relied on Yu Qiaqing's help six years ago and worshiped Huang Jinrong as an "old man".

Just after the Spring Festival, Yu Qiaqing was entrusted by the Shanghai businessman group to sail westward to Nanchang to meet the little fellow.The situation in Shanghai at this time was chaotic.Sun Chuanfang's army, who was in a state of panic all day long, was still entrenched in the urban area, and the market was panic-stricken and depressed.At this time, there are three roads to choose from before the entrepreneurial class in Shanghai. First, Sun Chuanfang, the actual controller of Shanghai at the time, put forward a "Great Shanghai Plan", suggesting that a governance group be composed of soldiers, literati, and businessmen. He also proposed that a liberal Ding Wenjiang be the general coordinator. There is no interest in this discussion. In the past ten years, from Yuan Shikai and Duan Qirui to Cao Kun and Zhang Zuolin, warlords have been in power in Beijing in turn. Except for those who hold their guns tightly, none of them have modern democratic ideas. Ideals and statecraft have lost the hearts of the people every time due to incompetence and violence.Entrepreneurs have lost basic trust in the old-style warlords.

Second, the workers' organizations led by the Communist Party are also actively active. In October last year, the Communist Party member Zhou Enlai organized workers to carry out armed riots. The uprising failed, but he was still actively planning the second action.Alignment with the Communist Party and workers' organizations is also an optional political solution.However, Yu Qiaqing and the others have no confidence in this. During the May 30th incident more than a year ago, the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Trade Unions have diverged from each other in terms of spiritual concepts and principles of action.For the proletarians, what they will lose in the revolution is the chain, and what they will gain will be the whole world, while the businessmen may be deprived of everything in the terrible revolution. They are the maintainers or repairers of the existing order, and they have never Revolutionary courage, impulse and interest needs.

As a class with vested interests, the ideal way out for Shanghai businessmen is to realize Shanghai’s autonomy. Since they put forward the three propositions of “abolishing envoys, withdrawing troops, and moving factories” in 1924, this has always been their unswerving ideal. Class and intellectual recognition.Therefore, when the soldiers of the Northern Expedition were pressing down on the border, Yu Qiaqing naively expected to form an alliance with his fellow countryman Chiang Kai-shek to help achieve this goal.As early as the end of 1924, Zhang Gongquan of the Bank of China contacted Guangzhou as the leader of the Shanghai Banking Association. He lent 500,000 yuan to the Generalissimo's Mansion. This was the first close relationship between the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Consortium and the Kuomintang in the past decade touch.When the National Revolutionary Army set off on the Northern Expedition, Chiang Kai-shek sent an order, "Our army will reach all places, and we will maintain the Bank of China." In August 1926, the Northern Expedition Army invaded Jiangxi, and local businessmen refused to use the Northern Expedition Army's temporary military exchange coupons. Zhang Gongquan They also secretly remitted 300,000 yuan and 1 million yuan for emergency use. These sums were about a quarter of the cost of the initial stage of the Northern Expedition.Obviously, tentative cooperation has never stopped.

Yu Qiaqing and Chiang Kai-shek met happily in Nanchang.There is no conclusive historical data to show what kind of tacit agreement they reached, but the future evolution of the situation can be clearly inferred. After Yu returned to Shanghai, he first sent a letter to the British and French Concession authorities as a "transferr", declaring that "both parties (referring to the Northern Expeditionary Army and the Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions) have made a solid statement that they are fully responsible for the public security in Shanghai and will do their best to maintain it and ensure that there is no risk of extraterrestrial actions." I deeply hope that your authorities will stay calm and cooperate in this turbulent world situation."

On February 18, the Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions announced a general strike and turned to an armed uprising, which was suppressed by Sun Chuanfang's troops. On March 21, the third armed uprising broke out. The rioting workers launched fierce attacks on the police station and barracks respectively. After 30 hours of fierce fighting, they finally occupied Shanghai.During the two riots, the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce has been watching coldly. On the 23rd, the rioters formed the provisional government of Shanghai Special City, and 19 people became members of the provisional government, including Yu Qiaqing and other business representatives.They were noncommittal about the appointment.

On March 26, Chiang Kai-shek rode into the city as a proud victor. A week later, the American "Time" magazine selected him as the cover character, calling him "the great conqueror who conquered half of China". Get this treatment once.That night, Yu Qiaqing rushed to Fenglinqiao Office to meet Chiang Kai-shek.In the next few days, he arranged for big businessmen from various industry associations in Shanghai to meet with Jiang one by one. He declared to everyone, "Jiang strongly agrees with the purpose of this association, and said that he himself also holds the idea of ​​maintaining capitalists." He promised to donate 5 million yuan to Jiang "for maintaining the stability of Shanghai".Jiang promised that "labour-management relations will soon be on the right track."

At that time, together with Yu Qiaqing, Shanghai bankers were actively raising funds for Chiang Kai-shek.After Chiang Kai-shek entered Shanghai, Chen Guangfu of the Bank of Shanghai met with him many times, and was pleased to serve as the director of the Jiangsu and Shanghai Finance Committee appointed by Chiang Kai-shek. Their duty is to use their influence in the Bankers Association and the Money Industry Association to raise military pay. The funds raised are issued in treasury bills with an annual interest rate of 2.5%, and the customs balance is used as security. Thirty-three years later, Chen Guangfu told Julie Howe, an oral history expert at Columbia University in the United States, "My main idea at the time was to overthrow the rule of the warlords. I believed that the Kuomintang could bring peace and prosperity to the country. My views reflected the The views of the industrial community in Shanghai."

According to John Powell, then editor-in-chief of the English-language newspaper "Miller's Review", in his memoirs, Chiang Kai-shek's plan for the incident was also supported by the concession. "At least 5,000 guns and sufficient ammunition must be supported for him." He also asked the public concession to allow his people to pass through, because it is impossible to transport people and ammunition from the Chinese border to another destination without passing through the public concession.All his requests were granted. Later facts proved that the political contract reached between the Shanghai entrepreneurial class and the new military strongman Chiang Kai-shek was that the entrepreneurs would provide Chiang with sufficient funds, and the latter would use force to eliminate the "riot" workers' organizations.In modern Chinese history, this is a decision with a turning point.Since the late Qing Dynasty, from the Westernization School, the Reform School to the Constitutionalists and liberal scholars, from Li Hongzhang, Sheng Xuanhuai to Zhang Jian, from Liang Qichao to Hu Shi, almost two whole generations have tried to bring China into a prosperous and powerful way through gradual changes. Even Yuan Shikai and Cao Kun under the Beiyang warlord regime, although they made a big farce of proclaiming emperor and bribery, they never crossed the bottom line of the parliamentary system.However, at the turn of spring and summer in 1927, the entrepreneurial class in Shanghai finally gave up on the peaceful path.

After the behind-the-scenes deal was reached, the tragedy that followed was extremely bloody and unbearable. On March 31, Yu Qiaqing delivered a blatantly anti-communist announcement to various newspapers in Shanghai, saying, "Communism is called communism, but it is actually bankrupt, and even under the guise of a name, it is secretly trying to invade... The conspiracy of our commander-in-chief Jiang is to be implemented. Surely, the mist has cleared, and clarification is waiting.” On April 2, at the Kuomintang Central Supervisory Committee meeting, participants proposed to “revocation of Communist Party membership in the Kuomintang,” and Wu Zhihui issued a statement of “impeachment” of the Communist Party.At this point, the Kuomintang began to "purge the party." On April 9th, Chiang Kai-shek established the Shanghai Martial Law Headquarters, prohibiting strikes, rallies and demonstrations. In the middle of the night on April 11, Wang Shouhua, chairman of the Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions, was lured to Du's residence by Du Yuesheng and Zhang Xiaolin of the Youth Gang. When he entered, he was covered with a sack and buried alive in Fengqiao on the outskirts of the city.In the early morning of the next day, disciples Du and Zhang wrapped their arms in white cloth and black badges with the word "工" and attacked the worker's picket station. The Kuomintang troops forcibly confiscated more than 1,700 workers' weapons and guns under the pretext of "mediating workers' internal strife", killing and injuring more than 300 people. It is the "April 12" incident that shocked the world. On the same day, Yu Qiaqing, Chen Guangfu, Niu Yongxin and other four well-known businessmen who were members of the Shanghai Special City Provisional Government announced their resignations.In the following two weeks, white terror enveloped Shanghai, and more than 5,000 people were shot dead or disappeared. This was the largest urban massacre in more than 60 years since the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was wiped out.The Communist Party of China and the Federation of Trade Unions were declared illegal. Since then, the party's main activities have shifted to the countryside. (Since the "April 12" incident, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party have completely split. On August 1 of that year, Zhu De, Zhou Enlai and others launched the "August 1" armed uprising in Wuchang, Jiangxi. In September, Mao Zedong launched the autumn harvest at the border of Hunan and Jiangxi. Uprising, the two teams joined forces in Jinggangshan, Jiangxi, and established the first rural base of armed separatism.) After the "April 12" Incident, Yu Qiaqing, Chen Guangfu and others continued to raise funds to support Chiang Kai-shek.During the period when they first entered Shanghai, the national government’s monthly military and administrative expenses amounted to 11 million yuan, while its income was less than 3 million yuan. , donated 30 million yuan by issuing the "Jianghai Customs 2nd Five-Year Tax-attached Treasury Coupon", another 24 million yuan in October, and another 16 million yuan in January 1928. Zhang Gongquan wrote in the "First Draft of the Chronicle" in his later years Said, "From April of the 16th year of the Republic of China (1927) to June of the 17th year of the Republic of China (1928), within 14 months, the national government issued a total of 136 million yuan of treasury bills and public bonds, all of which were accepted by the financial sector and advanced in advance. The funds will be sold one after another, among which the Bank of China has the largest share." Chiang Kai-shek received such a huge sum of money to help him, so he was like a tiger with wings added.Obviously, Yu Qiaqing, Zhang Gongquan, Chen Guangfu and others contributed greatly to the Chiang Kai-shek regime in terms of financial aid, wooing the business community, and appeasing the concession authorities in this major historical event that affected the progress of modern China.These Chinese business leaders finally chose to use a violent and bloody method to "solve" the contradiction between the business class and the working class. This is really a sad irony.They used Jiang's guns to quickly achieve their goal of eradication. However, what they didn't expect was that this was the opening of another even bigger tragedy. In the process of China's modernization, the revolutions that broke out one after another have inevitable rationality, and are also accompanied by inherent tragedy.It is a mixture of appeals and desires of various motives, like a torrent without a river bed, breaking through all fetters, but also has a serious tendency to self-destruct. This is what happened in 1927. After the Chiang Kai-shek clique seized power, the revolution quickly turned into its own enemy, and the promised freedom turned into a patriarchal autocracy.The shock and pain experienced by entrepreneurs during this period can be imagined. They are closely related to the rise of political power, but they are incompatible with the subsequent iron and blood rule. When Chiang Kai-shek entered Shanghai, he had high hopes at home and abroad. Time magazine wrote of him, "Though he dresses lightly and unassumingly, he still displays the air of a conqueror who is careful to use every means to achieve his goal, so long as it is suitable for him. 'China is Chinese' slogan".In those days when support was urgently needed, Chiang Kai-shek showed an extremely humble and low profile to the businessmen. In July 1927, Zhang Gongquan’s mother passed away. Chiang Kai-shek suddenly appeared in the mourning hall of Zhang’s family without invitation. , so that Zhang Gongquan and the business people present were very moved. In December 1927, he held a grand wedding with Soong Meiling at the Majestic Hotel. The wedding ceremony was divided into two parts: Chinese and Western. He was baptized as a Christian, and then held a traditional Chinese wedding at the Dahua Hotel, presided over by the Minister of Education Cai Yuanpei. Everything was done according to the etiquette, which made Yu Qiaqing, traditional culture people, and European and American intellectuals quite happy. They seemed to see an enlightened and modern leader who was completely different from feudal emperors or traditional warlords.However, this is an illusion. We often see such a situation in history, a charismatic and firm leader, often because of a paranoid personality of self-exaltation, will bring his friends, team and even the whole country into a world full of people. hurting world.Chiang Kai-shek is such a politician.He has strengthened the regime's control over everything, including of course the business economy, more than any warlord before him.What is especially frightening is that he did this not only out of personal self-interest, but with a strong sense of the party and the country, firm system concepts and ideals of governing the country.American scholar Coble Jr. provided a very different point of view in his book "Shanghai Capitalists and the National Government". He believed that "the Kuomintang during the ruling period in mainland China did not systematically represent entrepreneurs or urban social classes. It is basically an independent force mainly relying on its military strength. The policy of the Nanking government only seeks the interests of the government and its officials. As for the interests of any social class other than itself, it does not care at all. ".This observation of Coble Jr. is valid at least in relation to the relationship between the Chiang Kai-shek regime and the entrepreneurial and intellectual classes.The idea of ​​putting the interests of one party above the interests of the people and doing whatever they want for the stability of the regime has actually become a methodology of regime governance, which transcends the scope of ideology—the profound irony is that it often It will become the most commonly used tool and excuse for the regime to establish its legitimacy. From the day when the Westernization Movement began, there have been two completely different trends of thought on what role the state and state-owned capital should play in the commercial economy. Zheng Guanying, Zhang Jian, Liang Qichao and subsequent liberal scholars emphasized the Li Hongzhang, Sheng Xuanhuai, and later Zhou Xuexi were staunch national commercialists.Chiang Kai-shek obviously belonged to the latter camp, and the starting point of his thinking was precisely the stability of the regime. The national government, which had just established a firm foothold in Shanghai, was in financial distress, even worse than when it was in Guangdong a few years ago. According to estimates, after deducting debts, the government's annual revenue is about 300 million yuan, while the military expenditure needs 360 million yuan, which is obviously beyond the means.In order to increase tax sources, there are many difficulties. For a normal central government, the biggest tax category is income tax. However, at that time, the National Government actually only controlled the four provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Jiangxi, and national taxation was almost impossible—— The previous Duan Qirui Beiyang government tried to collect income tax in 1921, and it only got 10,311 yuan a year, which became an international joke.Taxation of foreign companies is even more elusive due to the existence of various unequal treaties. Therefore, the situation that occurred could only be abnormal. In the next two years, Chiang Kai-shek’s methods of increasing fiscal revenue were mainly related to the following key words: extortion, heavy taxes, issuing public bonds and selling opium. By Chiang Kai-shek's side, the one who made money for him was Song Ziwen (1894-1971), a 33-year-old Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University. Song Ziwen was born in a Christian family. This is a new entrepreneur trained in American liberal economic theory. He graduated from Shanghai St. John's University in his early years.Later, he went to Harvard University in the United States to study economics and obtained a master's degree, and then entered Columbia University and obtained a doctorate.As we all know, Harvard and Columbia are the most important academic centers of liberal economics.Soong Ziwen's family is very unique. His father Charlie Soong was one of Sun Yat-sen's closest supporters when he was in business in his early years. He asked his eldest daughter Soong Ailing and second daughter Soong Ching-ling to be Sun Yat-sen's secretary successively. In the end, Soong Ching-ling became Mrs. Sun. Song Ailing married Kong Xiangxi from Shanxi, who later became Chiang Kai-shek's most important financial steward together with Song Ziwen.The husband of the third daughter Song Meiling is Chiang Kai-shek.The prominent position of the Song family in the modern history of China can be imagined. On June 14, 1927, Song Ziwen and 18-year-old Zhang Leyi held a grand wedding in Shanghai.For Song, this was a marriage with mixed flavors. For the past few years, he had been in love with Sheng Xuanhuai's daughter, Miss Sheng Qi, Sheng Jinru. The proud Sheng family refused, on the grounds that "the daughter of the Taibao married the son of the trumpeter, which is a joke."In desperation, Song Ziwen went to Lushan Mountain to relieve his feelings. After being introduced, he met the daughter of Zhang Mouzhi, a timber merchant in Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province, and they got married in a flash.While he was considering this love choice, he was faced with a more important choice than marriage. Before and after Chiang Kai-shek entered the city, Shanghai entrepreneurs had promised to "money alliance" with him. However, the money was paid in the form of loans and issuance of public bonds, and a person acceptable to both parties was required to intermediary as a guarantee.At this time, Song Ziwen became the only choice.The origins of the Song family with Sun Yat-sen and the Kuomintang are well known throughout the world, and Song Ziwen has a high reputation in the business world. The personality that is good at strategy and good at compromise is fully displayed in Song Ziwen.He was educated in orthodox American liberalism, and he speaks English more fluently than Chinese. In terms of political philosophy, he is very close to his second sister Soong Ching Ling.After Sun Yat-sen's death, the Kuomintang split into two factions. Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei lived separately in Nanjing and Wuhan. It was to raise funds for Wang Jingwei.However, he had a natural aversion to the labor movement. Soong Ching Ling's friend and American journalist Vincent Xi'an, who was also familiar with him, once recorded: "He felt a nervous fear of any real revolution, and the crowd made him Fear, labor propaganda and strikes unnerved him, and he was horrified at the thought that the rich might be dispossessed. He had an extreme distaste for mass movements that dominated much of his political career and eventually cast him in Chiang's camp, Despite his sincere idealism." Just before his wedding in April, Chiang Kai-shek met Soong Ziwen and invited him to be the Minister of Finance of the Nanjing Nationalist Government, and severed political relations with Wang Jingwei and Soong Ching Ling in Wuhan.Two days later, Song Mingming told Chiang Kai-shek that he was unwilling to sign the letter of appointment.Soon, Chiang closed Song Ziwen's office in Shanghai and, at the same time, ordered the garrison in Guangzhou to confiscate all his property in the Nanking Government Bank.In those days, in the garden of the Soong family on Molière Road in Shanghai, his eldest sister Song Ailing and her eldest brother-in-law Kong Xiangxi brainwashed and persuaded him every day, while he hid in Soong Ching Ling's empty house and wandered endlessly.When he opened the curtains, he could see Du Yuesheng's young gangsters wandering around and watching, all of which made him uneasy.The fear of mass movements and Chiang Kai-shek's rogue-like coercion made Song Ziwen finally decide to go with Chiang.He asked Vincent Xi'an to tell Soong Ching Ling in Wuhan that he would stay in Shanghai to help Chiang Kai-shek. Xi'an recorded the scene at that time: "I took him home in a car, as if sitting in a funeral hearse Neither of us spoke a word. I was worn out by the sheer uncertainty of events, and he was very gloomy. I never saw him again. The events of that night left me with Song Ziwen's final impression. This impression is not only about him personally, but also about this kind of people, that is, honest liberals who are at a loss between the two sides of the strait." The cooperation with Chiang Kai-shek made Song Ziwen one of the most powerful economic figures in the history of the Republic of China. He even became the cover character of the American "Time" magazine because of this. The richest man" is also one of the richest people in the world.In this corporate history, he became the preferred model of "bureaucratic entrepreneurs" after Sheng Xuanhuai and Zhou Xuexi. But he also paid a "price" for it.This is a man who has lost his ideals and positions. He has obviously betrayed the liberal economic ideals instilled in him by Harvard University and Columbia University. Therefore, he appears very unhappy and always does work that does not mean what he says.He is still a person who is not "free". His bodyguard and driver for many years is a man named "Tommy". His real name is Dong Haiwen. With Song Ziwen's luggage". In some cases, he was even threatened with his life. On July 23, 1931, the "New York Times" published a news article "The Bullet Missed Song Ziwen". The newspaper quoted Song himself as saying, "I never Walking out of the station, about 15 feet away from the exit, someone suddenly shot me from both sides at the same time... After the smoke dissipated, people found that the secretary who had been walking beside me had been shot in the abdomen, buttocks and arms Bullets. The bullets went into his body from both sides, his hat and briefcase were full of holes, and the strange thing is that I am much taller than him, and I didn't hurt a hair." Obviously, this was an overt intimidation incident.Afterwards, I learned that the person responsible for the assassination was Du Yuesheng. Not long ago, Du had a deal with the Ministry of Finance, and he paid 6 million yuan for it. Later, he suddenly wanted to stop the matter and get back the advance payment. Song Ziwen Of course Du Yuesheng was dissatisfied with returning him 6 million yuan in public bonds, so there was a shooting scene.After understanding the situation of the incident, Song Ziwen quickly made the "correct" decision: he exchanged all the public bonds for cash. After subduing Song Ziwen, who had superb financial skills, Chiang Kai-shek began to squeeze the entrepreneurial class. The first is blackmail.In order to maintain the rule of East China and continue to attack northward, Chiang Kai-shek needs tens of millions of yuan in military expenses every month. This is like a bloodthirsty beast that has opened its bloody mouth. It is obviously not enough to rely on the active recruitment of entrepreneurs.As a result, mandatory "pledging" has become the most effective means.Chiang Kai-shek completely won over the gang organizations in Shanghai. Huang Jinrong, Du Yuesheng, Zhang Xiaolin and others who were originally like-minded with Yu Qiaqing all pledged their allegiance to the more powerful Chiang Kai-shek. "And other secret groups, which use naked terror to deal with disobedient businessmen.Those businessmen who disobeyed were either identified as traitorous "comprador businessmen" and were attacked or liquidated, or their children were arrested on charges of "counter-revolutionaries" or "communists", and they had to donate tens of thousands to He will be released on bail after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars.In order to intimidate the merchants living in the public concessions, they also placed some cages on the edge of the concessions, marked "for foreign slaves only." The "New York Times" said in a report at the time, "In Shanghai and the surrounding Chinese The situation of businessmen is very miserable. Under the dictatorship of General Chiang Kai-shek, businessmen don’t know what their fate will be tomorrow, their property is confiscated, they are forced to borrow money, they are exiled to other places, and they may even be executed.” John Sock, an American reporter for “Zi Lin Xi Bao” Si also recorded in the report: "Using the pretext of capturing communists, various forms of persecution were carried out. People were kidnapped and forced to pay huge military donations." Chiang Kai-shek's first operation was the then chairman of the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce (he replaced Yu Qiaqing as the new chairman not long ago) and Fu Zongyao, general manager of China Commercial Bank. On April 28, 1927, Jiang personally met with Fu Zongyao and proposed that he raise a military loan of 10 million yuan, but Fu declined on the spot.In order to scare chickens and monkeys, Chiang Kai-shek issued an arrest warrant the next day for a very simple reason, "Fu Zongyao, the illegal chairman of the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce, aided the rebellion and disrupted, and threatened to seek personal gain... After our army arrived in Shanghai, it dared to show its submission and conspired to make a reaction. Not only speculative, It is really reactionary. If there is no urgent and severe arrest and punishment, there will be no warning.” After reading the entire wanted order, it is righteous but there is no evidence. It is an out-and-out crime of “unnecessary”.Fu Zongyao's family property was confiscated and he was forced to leave Dalian in panic. The experience of the Rong brothers during this period was exactly the same. In May, Chiang Kai-shek issued the "Jianghai Customs 25-year tax-attached treasury coupon", and 600,000 yuan was distributed to Huashang spinning mills. Rong Zongjing was the chairman of the Spinning Mills Federation at that time. In recent years, the yarn industry has fallen into depression. The factories were struggling to survive, and Rong only reluctantly agreed to pay more than 100,000 yuan on the grounds that "all factories are in sluggish business and economic difficulties, and they are really unable to afford it."Chiang Kai-shek was furious, and immediately charged Rong Zongjing with "willingly attaching to Sun Chuanfang", and ordered all the troops to investigate.However, several of Rong Zongjing's factories were in the concession, and he himself lived in the concession, under the protection of the police sent by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. Chiang Kai-shek couldn't help him for a while.Therefore, they ordered the seizure of Rong Zongjing's family property in Wuxi. On May 15th, the army came to Wuxi with a military order. The county government argued to the appointed officials that the Rong family brothers had separated, and even if the eldest was guilty, it had nothing to do with the second eldest, Rong Desheng.Of course, this opinion was not accepted, and the Rong family's house, flour mills, and cotton spinning mills were all sealed, and more than 20 people in the Rong family had to spend a frightened night in the kitchen and garage.Only at this time did Rong Zongjing know that he had caused a catastrophe. He had no choice but to ask Wu Zhihui, a fellow from Wuxi and a veteran of the Kuomintang, to intercede with Chiang Kai-shek. However, in the name of the Federation, he sent a telegram to "explain the misunderstanding" and agreed to purchase 500,000 yuan of treasury bonds. .So far, Chiang Kai-shek has been "Long Yan Joyful", and the Rong family finally passed the test after going through all these twists and turns. In the "Zi Lin Xi Bao" at that time, other entrepreneurs who were kidnapped and extorted can be found: On May 14, the son of Xi Baoshun, the most famous comprador family in Shanghai, was arrested for "counter-revolutionary crimes". He was released only after he pledged 200,000 yuan in national business expenses; on May 16, Zhao Jiyong, the largest liquor businessman in Shanghai, was arrested on the same charge and released after paying 200,000 yuan; Arrested and released on bail of 670,000 yuan; trader Yu Hongying was detained by the police headquarters for a week on the charge of selling Japanese goods, and released with a donation of 150,000 yuan; sugar merchant Huang Zhendong was arrested on the same charge and released only after paying 150,000 yuan .Businessman Guo Futing was arrested on counter-revolutionary charges for refusing to subscribe for public bonds, and later handed over a huge sum of money to keep his name.The brother of the chairman of the Far East Public Stadium was kidnapped in the French Concession and released after paying a ransom.The most exaggerated incident is that the three-year-old son of Ou Bingguang, the manager of Xianshi Department Store, was kidnapped, and he was returned only after donating 500,000 yuan to the state.Chen Guangfu recorded a conversation with Chiang Kai-shek in his diary. He complained that the government confiscated the Zhongxing Coal Mine not long ago, which was "very unpopular." I borrowed money from the government, but I refused to pay it afterwards, so I confiscated it as a punishment." Chen Guangfu couldn't laugh or cry. Chiang Kai-shek strictly forbade the media to report on these extortion operations. At the end of May 1927, "News" was ordered to prohibit the publication of a loan figure extorted by the Kuomintang authorities.In the future, people's understanding of the extortion achievements during this period was mostly obtained from the letters and books of international people and the "Zi Linxi News" and "Miller's Review" published in English by the British.Wen Lippmann, an Australian observer based in Shanghai, said in his book "The Chinese Revolution: 1926-1927" published in 1928, "The money collected by Chiang Kai-shek with this terrorist method is estimated to reach 50 million U.S. dollars. The regime has never ruled with such terror in Shanghai." The second option besides extortion is heavy taxation.The ruling radius of the national government was in Shanghai and Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, so the residents and enterprises in this area suffered greatly. In June 1927, the government announced a special tax rule, requiring homeowners living in the concession to immediately pay the government a property tax equivalent to two months’ rent of their property. spending.Soon after, the government announced an increase in import and export taxes, announced a new tax on luxury goods, and successively imposed "common taxes" on industries such as cotton textiles, cement, flour, and matches. This is an additional tax similar to the abolished likin. Among them, the increase in tobacco tax was the highest, from the previous 12.5% ​​to 50%. British American Tobacco, which was not controlled by Chiang Kai-shek, resisted this tax. As a result, a large number of Chinese tobacco factories that lost their competitiveness were closed down.Some consumer places are required to charge special stamp duty.The 83 banks in Shanghai were required to pay a fixed tax of 30,000 yuan per month.The heavy tax policy of the government has made factories miserable. Issuing public bonds is the third way. In May 1927, the government issued short-term government bonds of 30 million yuan with a monthly interest rate of 0.7%. Merchants boycotted it because they thought it lacked real credit guarantees. For various crimes, members of the Shanghai Money Industry Association subscribed 1.65 million yuan, Zhabei Hydropower Supply Company subscribed 250,000 yuan, Huashang Insurance Association subscribed 500,000 yuan, and Yongan, Xinxin, and Xianshi department stores subscribed a total of 750,000 yuan.More than half a year later, the government successively issued two public bonds of 40 million yuan and 16 million yuan.Subscribing to these two bonds is equivalent to asking business owners in Shanghai to pay the full salary of all employees for one month. A very dramatic detail is that in August 1927, Chiang Kai-shek was forced to resign due to the power struggle within the Kuomintang, and he was replaced by Sun Yat-sen's son Sun Ke.After the latter took office, he was unable to collect enough military expenses. Chiang Kai-shek could collect 20 million yuan a month, while Sun Ke could only raise 8 million yuan. He tried to issue 40 million yuan in public bonds, but he only sold 5 million yuan. , the real estate tax, which was previously succeeded by the terrorist policy, could not be collected, and the government quickly faced a financial crisis. In mid-October, Sun Ke ordered the 26th Army of the National Revolutionary Army to go north to fight. Because there was no money to pay, the officers and soldiers refused to accept orders Set off.So, only five months later, Chiang Kai-shek, who knew the art of terror better, was invited back again. In addition to the above three items, another more secretive way to increase tax sources is to engage in the lucrative opium business. Opium is a "symbolic commodity" in the modern history of China. In the early 19th century, British merchants relied on it to knock on the closed door of the empire and caused a large outflow of silver. Finally, in 1840, the "Opium War" broke out. ".By the end of the 19th century, the British government basically withdrew from the opium business, but the business was still there. It became the most important source of tax revenue for warlords everywhere. In Yunnan, Guizhou and other places, opium once became the official standard of goods exchange.When Sun Yat-sen was in Guangzhou, he also introduced a tax on tobacco halls to ease the financial constraints.After Chiang Kai-shek entered Shanghai, he quickly established the National Smoking Banning Bureau (later renamed the National Smoking Banning Committee). Yuan, then you can buy opium at the Smoking Control Bureau and avoid being detained, and those who smoke temporarily are charged 0.3 yuan per bag.This "no-smoking policy" made smoking and selling opium once again a legal and open business in East China.In 1929 alone, the national government collected 16 million yuan in anti-smoking taxes from Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang.According to the archives of the Shanghai Police Bureau, in 1930, Song Ziwen personally arranged to traffic 700 boxes of opium from Persia to Shanghai under the protection of the army to supplement the shortage of domestic sales. Time magazine therefore commented sarcastically in its April 1931 report, "If shrewd Minister Song really packs opium in his treasury chariot, he will be able to find a A way to balance China's budget." The government's drug trafficking, of course, needs a commercial partner. The chosen person is Du Yuesheng, the leader of the Shanghai Youth Gang who buried alive the worker leader Wang Shouhua. This is a man who, many years later, is still difficult to accurately evaluate. He was the leader of China's largest underworld, a loyal collaborator of the government, a staunch nationalist, the owner of numerous businesses and a generous philanthropist.In 1928, he had these prominent titles under his name: Chinese Director of the Public Board of Directors of the French Concession, Member of the Supervisory Committee of the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce, Chairman of Shanghai Zhonghui Bank and Donghui Bank, Chairman and General Manager of China Commercial Bank, Chairman of Huafeng Paper Company, director of Bank of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, China Gauze Exchange, Chamber of Commerce Merchant Shipping and other companies, chairman of Shanghai Emergency Hospital, chairman of Ningbo Renji Hospital, founder of Shanghai Zhengshi Middle School, etc.惟一当面采访过杜月笙的外国记者伊洛娜·拉尔夫·苏丝在《鱼翅与小米》一书中记录了第一次见到此人时的印象：“面容憔悴，溜肩，长长的双臂毫无目的地来回摆动。他身穿一件斑斑点点的蓝色长袍，平板脚上是一双邋遢的旧拖鞋。鸭蛋形的头显得很长，头发却剪得很短，前额好象向后去了一大块，没有下巴颚，两只大耳朵象蝙蝠，冷酷的嘴唇包不住那一口黄牙，一副十足的令人作呕的烟鬼形象。他向我伸出一只软弱无力的冷冰冰的手。”因为在“悲剧之月”中的卖力表现，杜月笙被蒋介石授予少将军衔。全国禁烟局成立后，他被任命为领导者。曾有英国顾问反对这项任命，孔祥熙说服他的理由是：“在上海有上万人对他惟命是从，他随时都可以制造动乱。” 杜月笙的胆大妄为，在后世人看来十分的戏剧性。除了曾经做出枪击威胁宋子文的“创意”之外，他对孔祥熙也有过一次如法炮制式的交手。曾经是蒋介石重要经济顾问的英国人弗雷德里克·李滋·罗斯爵士记录了这个故事：1928年，孔祥熙的夫人宋蔼龄在跟杜月笙的交谈中透露，政府将在外汇交易中采取某种应急措施。杜心领神会，回去后当即进行投机操作。谁料，政策突变，杜月笙亏本损失了5万英镑。杜要求赔偿，孔祥熙断然拒绝，“那天晚上，一口头号棺材放在孔博士家门口，周围有五六个穿着黑衣服的送殡的人。”第二天，孔祥熙召集中央银行董事会紧急会议，一致同意补偿最近在外汇市场上蒙受损失的“爱国公民”。 1931年，杜月笙在浦东的家乡高桥建成杜氏祠堂，这在当时是一件轰动一时的盛事，几乎所有的政要、企业家和社会名流都到场祝贺，据称有8万人参加了落成庆典。蒋介石亲送匾额“孝思不匮”祝贺。席尽人散后，这个豪华的祠堂就成了远东最大的地下吗啡和海洛因加工厂。 除了在国内贩售，杜月笙的鸦片生意还融入到了全球市场，在这方面，他得到了上海的法租界当局的暗中支持。斯特林·西格雷夫在《宋家王朝》中描述了这条通畅的“全球销售网络”：杜月笙的很多海洛因都是通过官方渠道进入法国大城市的，由于上海法租界由河内管理，而不是直接由巴黎管理，这就构成了一个从上海到河内、西贡、进而直到马赛黑社会的阴暗交通网，这个网由科西嘉人强大的“科西嘉联合会”所控制。这个联合会有一个更通俗的叫法是“黑手党”。伊洛娜·拉尔夫·苏丝认为，“杜月笙是强大的国际贩毒集团的中方伙伴，这个集团的活动范围已扩展到太平洋沿岸加拿大、美国和拉美各国。”美国警方曾经收缴到来自中国的毒品，“五盎司一听的海洛因盒子上，都打着全国禁烟局的各种官方印记。”据西格雷夫的记录，有人甚至计算认为，当时全球的八包海洛因中，就有七包出自杜月笙。 靠蒋介石慷慨的毒品专营，杜月笙赚到了最多的钱，他以同样的慷慨方式回报前者。在1935年，他出资向美国柯蒂斯·赖特公司订购了120架军用飞机，全数捐赠给国民政府。1936年，为了庆祝蒋介石50大寿，杜月笙送飞机一架，并将之命名为“上海禁烟号”。 天下世事，皆有因果。虞洽卿及中国商人阶层的商运沉浮，都可从1927年春季的那次“交易”探出端倪。 后世很多史家往往把上海商人与蒋介石的结盟，看成是一种害怕和胆怯的心理——与其面临革命的威胁，莫如求助于独裁者的庇护。不过，事实未必有这样的简单，正如我们在前面的章节中已经描述过的，在“四·一二”事件发生前几年，企业家阶层出于对军阀统治的失望，已经对强权政治采取了一种明显迁就的态度，并对专制产生了一种怀念之情，他们并不是单纯地由于害怕或走投无路，而投靠蒋介石集团并听从他的任意摆布，而是因为他们对蒋介石和国民党充满了希望。与此同时，新崛起的劳工阶层又让他们感到陌生和恐惧，这更加增强了他们寻求国家强权保护的愿望。 上海企业家在“悲剧之月”的集体抉择再次证明，丧失商业力量的自主权，对政治权力的投靠是危险的，与权力结盟的结局将导向一条必然的奴役之路。虞洽卿、张公权等人自以为与时俱进，其实是在大踏步的倒退，先是退到出发的地方，最后退止悬崖的边缘。白吉尔评论说，“这些人是资产阶级中最拥护民族主义，也最现代化和较具有民主理念的分子……在1927年，中国的资产阶级不仅是对无产阶级的背叛，同时也是对其自身的背叛，由于他们放弃了一切政治权利，便很容易受到国家权力的打击，而这种权力又正是由其帮助才得以恢复的。”斯言悠悠，可谓泣血之论。“理想落空并不可怕，可怕的是它终于成为笑谈。”民国诗人穆旦的这句诗歌大概可以概括那一代有公共理想的、温和的自由主义者们的共同心境。 1927年的中国企业家，很象杭州诗人戴望舒在今年夏天写的《雨巷》中的那个结着愁怨的女子：“她默默地远了，远了/到了颓圮的篱墙/走尽这雨巷/在雨的哀曲里/消了她的颜色/散了她的芬芳/消散了，甚至她的/太息般的眼光/丁香般的惆怅。” 自清帝国覆灭之后的自由时光，对企业家阶层来说，宛若一场被暴风雨惊醒的春梦。他们不会料到的是，历史仅仅给了他们这一次机会。仅仅16年，“中央”又骑着高头大马回来了。他是被呼唤回来的，他被欢呼、鲜花和金钱所簇拥，这一切都是自愿的，尽管这些人中的一大半不久后就开始后悔了。 在被彻底“征服”之前，他们也曾经试图反抗。