Chapter 10 Section 1

According to the assassination list prepared by Mao Renfeng, Li Zongren, the "acting president" of the Kuomintang, was impressively listed at the top of the list.So, why did the number one target choose Li Zongren? In fact, this is not surprising at all.Li Zongren was listed as the number one target, which was right for Chiang Kai-shek's appetite. In the early years, Li Zongren, as the leader of the Xingui Group, led the fashion together with Bai Chongxi and Huang Shaohong at the time of the Guangzhou National Government's reform, but opened up the atmosphere and played a huge role in the early unification of Guangdong and Guangxi.

In July 1926, at the beginning of the Northern Expedition, the Xingui faction dispatched 60,000 horses to cooperate with Chiang Kai-shek to wipe out the south in one fell swoop. Li Zongren, courtesy name Delin, was born in Lingui, Guangxi in 1891 in a wealthy family in the countryside.His grandfather, Li Yinqian, was originally a rural doctor who owned a medicine shop, a pawn shop, and a large amount of land.Li Zongren received private school teacher education since he was a child.After a little longer, he was admitted to Guangxi Primary School. After the Revolution of 1911, Li Zongren joined the Guangxi New Army and started as a platoon leader. In the chaotic and complicated situation, he gradually became a battalion commander. In 1919, Li Zongren won the post of commander of the Gui Army and built a team of about 2,000 people, which became the starting capital.In the ensuing 10 years of war, he was in charge, Bai Chongxi was in charge of military affairs, and Huang Shaohong was in charge of political and foreign affairs. The three of them worked together to unify Guangxi with force and defeated Lu Rongting and other old Gui clique warlords. These three people are known as the "Three Heroes of the Gui Family", and they are also the leaders of the Gui Family Group of the Kuomintang.

In the early years, these three people shared the same aspirations in Guangxi and jointly formed a new type of army. After several years of competition, they gradually gained the ruling power in Guangxi. In 1926, Li Zongren sent Huang Shaohong to contact Sun Yat-sen, obtained political capital, and attached himself to the Guangdong Nationalist Government.As a result, the New Guangxi Clique gradually evolved into a political and military group with a national vision, and was no longer satisfied with the narrow local forces occupying a province. In July 1926, the Northern Expedition began, and Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi, the two giants of the Xingui Clique, held important positions respectively.Li Zongren served as the commander of the Seventh Army of the National Revolutionary Army, Bai Chongxi served as the chief of staff of Chiang Kai-shek, the commander-in-chief of the National Revolutionary Army, and Huang Shaohong stayed behind in Guangxi.They mobilized 60,000 troops to cooperate with Chiang Kai-shek to pacify the south in one fell swoop, and then, like a plow court sweeping holes, from south to north, they went straight to Peiping, helping Chiang Kai-shek to complete the superficial unification of the north and the south.

Li Zongren is a very personal revenge person.When he was a battalion commander, he invited a famous physiognomy master in Guangxi at that time to meet him.The fortune teller predicted at that time: Li Zongren will have a bright future in the future, "he will have the honor of ninety-five."Li Zongren is convinced of this. He believes that Fengshui in his hometown is good. In 1925, after the unification of Guangxi was completed, Li Zongren immediately built a mansion in his hometown in Lingui, and asked Gao Shi to write a striking couplet beside the gate of the newly completed Lifu: All spring, mountains and rivers will last forever", conveying my true feelings.

During the Northern Expedition, Chiang Kai-shek's First Army performed unsatisfactorily, while Li Zongren's Seventh Army was invincible and was known as the "Steel Army".This situation made Li Zongren's contempt for Chiang Kai-shek beyond words.For example, "Mr. Jiang was not a general", "is an incompetent strategist", "the ability to command troops and govern is extremely incompetent", "neither general nor soldier", "Jiang can only say He is a partial general, and he ranks high among the generals, but his wisdom, virtue, and self-cultivation are all far behind."

On April 12, 1927, with the military support of Li Zongren, Huang Shaohong, Bai Chongxi, and Li Jishen from the Xingui faction, Chiang Kai-shek publicly launched a counter-revolutionary coup and established an illegal national government in Nanjing, which led to the split of Ninghan and Han.After Chiang Kai-shek launched a counter-revolutionary coup, he was immediately condemned by the Wuhan National Government. The Beiyang warlord Sun Chuanfang and other ministries were also eager to try in the north of the Yangtze River. After Chiang Kai-shek stepped down, Li Zongren immediately took out the members of the Xishan Conference faction who were in opposition and established the Central Special Committee.Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi actually controlled the Nanjing government.However, the foundation of the Xingui faction in the Kuomintang is too shallow after all, and it lacks the talents and strength to control the overall situation.Not long after, Chiang Kai-shek made a comeback as commander-in-chief of the National Revolutionary Army.Li Zongren took advantage of the contradictions between Cheng Qian, Tang Shengzhi, and Tan Yan, soldiers from Hunan, and joined forces with Cheng Qian, Tan Yan and others to defeat Tang Shengzhi who occupied the two lakes, seize the territory of the two lakes, and connect Guangxi, the rear of the Xingui Clan, with the two lakes.Later, Bai Chongxi led his troops to participate in the second Northern Expedition, expanding the forces of the Xingui Clique to the front lines of Beiping and Tianjin.In addition, Li Jishen, who is based in Guangdong, is a friend of the Xin-Guangxi Clan. In this way, the territory occupied by the Xin-Gui Clan extends from Guangdong, Guangxi and Lianghu along the Beijing-Hanzhou Line to Pingjin. The five provinces of Fujian, Fujian and Jiangxi are comparable.

In 1929, due to the uneven distribution of spoils, Jiang Gui once again tore up his face and fought against each other. The famous "Jiang Gui War" in the history of modern warlords broke out.As a result, the New Guangxi Clan lost its troops and generals, and its vitality was severely injured. The once prosperous situation from Guangxi, Hunan and to Beijing suddenly collapsed.Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi and others returned to Guangxi in embarrassment.Chiang Kai-shek did not give them a chance to breathe. While suppressing the country with a large army, he publicly wanted them.Huang Shaohong was so desperate that he left Guangxi alone.Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi were forced to retreat to advance. After handing over the military power to their subordinates, they fled to Hong Kong from Zhennanguan via Vietnam Haiphong. It was not until the success of the Baise Uprising led by the Communist Party that the panic-stricken Chiang Kai-shek acquiesced in their return to Guangxi.

During the Anti-Japanese War, Li Zongren served as the commander-in-chief of the Kuomintang's Fifth War Zone, and Bai Chongxi was the Minister of National Defense. The internal and external relations between the two gradually recovered, and once again became a military group that made Chiang Kai-shek feel like a thorn in his back. However, the potential is high.After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Chiang Kai-shek wanted to integrate political forces and reshuffle the layout.Back then, when the Northern Expedition invaded Changsha, Chiang Kai-shek tried his best to win over Li Zongren by means of rivers and lakes. The two burned incense and became brothers in Taoyuan. It's tied." But the oath was still in their ears, and their conflicts became deeper and deeper.

According to Chiang Kai-shek's conception, "one doctrine, one political party, one leader".After the Anti-Japanese War, the situation changed greatly. Chiang Kai-shek wanted to reintegrate the political forces of various factions. He wanted to abandon the local powerful factions such as Li Zongren from the center.Unexpectedly, as he retreated steadily on the battlefield of the civil war, Americans gradually lost confidence in Chiang Kai-shek and the national government under his rule.