Chapter 37 "Sichuan-Shaanxi Conference to Suppress"

October 1934, Guling, Lushan Mountain.Accompanied by Song Meiling, Chiang Kai-shek strolled in the beautiful autumn scenery of Mount Lu.Although the surrounding scenery is beautiful, Chiang Kai-shek has no intention of admiring the scenery.As China's nominal supreme ruler, the situation he faces is too complicated.The Japanese continued to provoke troubles in North China, and the domestic war faction and the peace faction were in a mess around him.Wang Jingwei was also in Lushan, and specially recruited a group of peacemakers to put pressure on him, advocating the "theory of national subjugation in three months."Chiang Kai-shek actually agreed with Wang Jingwei's point of view, but he had already seen through Wang Jingwei's tricks, "Mother Xipi, I just want to take this opportunity to tear down my platform and replace me. You, Wang Jingwei, don't think about it?" Although Wang Jingwei is the vice president of the Kuomintang, the veteran of the party, he has no army in his hands. How big a wave can he make without the army?The Japanese were pressing harder and harder. In March 1933, they crossed the Shanhaiguan Pass and invaded the five provinces of North China step by step.Chiang Kai-shek is not afraid of the Japanese. He has long seen that the Japanese cannot swallow China.China has the interests of Britain and the United States. If the Japanese want to destroy China, can Britain and the United States agree?

Chiang Kai-shek didn't really want to fight the Japanese. Considering that most of China's domestic military forces are "private armies" of warlords from all over the country, not to mention their weak combat effectiveness, they are obedient to their own words. Can such an army come into contact with the Japanese?Because of this, starting from 1934, he began to implement the established plan of forming sixty new divisions.From December 1934, according to the standard of 60 divisions in the whole country, the preparation and training were tentatively scheduled to be completed in three to four years, and the air force construction plan of five, four and three years was drafted successively, with the aim of "aiding protect the ground troops and fight against the communists.”

Chiang Kai-shek believed that once the training of sixty new-style divisions was completed and the capital in his hands was large, he would be able to fight Japan decisively.At the same time, in order to train new officers and improve the quality of existing officers, Chiang Kai-shek established the Lushan Officer Training Corps.But fighting Japan must be single-minded and not be constrained by domestic political forces. One is the Communist Party, and the other is the domestic warlords who are false to him and always look for opportunities to cause trouble, such as Feng Yuxiang, Yan Xishan, and Li Zongren Well, there are also Wang Jialie, Long Yun, Liu Xiang, Yang Hucheng, etc. These people are more troublesome than the unarmed Wang Jingwei who can only talk and talk.But compared with the Communist Party, they are nothing. As long as they are treated with kindness and force, guns and gold bars are used together, no matter how big the problem is, they can be settled.The biggest headache is the Communist Party.Since 1927, Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Xu Xiangqian, and He Long, these people have become more and more troublesome. Jiangxi Ruijin, Hubei, Henan, Anhui, Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi have been reddened by them one by one, and the number of the Red Army has also increased.Since 1930, the Red Army in Hubei, Henan, Anhui and Jiangxi has been "encircled and suppressed". , and built a base.The warlords in Sichuan only knew that they were fighting in a melee, and asked them to "encircle and suppress" the Red Army, but they did not expect a crushing defeat.Thinking of this, Chiang Kai-shek sighed deeply.Soong Meiling, who walked side by side with him, was considerate. She knew Chiang Kai-shek's thoughts at the moment, "Don't be too annoying, haven't the Communist Party been driven out of its lair by you? Zhu Mao fled in the mountains of Yunnan and Guizhou. If the mouth is tight, where else can they go?"

The nerves on Chiang Kai-shek's face twitched: "They were kicked out of their lair, but the vitality of these communist parties is too strong. They ran from Hubei, Henan, Anhui to Sichuan. In two years, they took root in Bashan and Shushui, and put Fucheng ( Liu Xiang's words) hundreds of thousands of people were beaten to death. Now Zhu Mao has been driven to a remote place in Yunguichuan, I hope they won't let them run away again this time." When it came to Liu Xiang, Chiang Kai-shek had mixed feelings. Through this fiasco, Liu Xiang knew that his own strength alone was not enough to defeat the Communist Party, and finally accepted his own conditions, and Sichuan had already fallen into his hands.He Guoguang's camp staff group has entered Chongqing, and Kang Ze's ranger has also entered Sichuan.Although Xu Xiangqian's Red Army beat Liu Xiang to pieces, the Red Army also suffered a lot of losses. Yang Hucheng in Shaanxi, Hu Zongnan and Liu Xiang in Gansu, and Xiao Zhichu in Hubei joined hands. Hundreds of thousands of people hunted in the northeast of Sichuan. How long can Xu Xiangqian's tens of thousands of exhausted teachers continue to dance?Zhu Mao's Red Army was in the high mountains of Yunguichuan, blocked by the Dadu River and the Jinsha River, blocked by Long Yun, Sun Du, Wang Jialie, and Yang Sen, and closely followed by the Central Army. Where else could they escape?Thinking of the steep terrain of Yunguichuan and his hundreds of thousands of troops, Chiang Kai-shek felt a little relieved.

Wait until the Communist Party is "destroyed" before pulling out its hands to deal with the Japanese.Thinking of this, Chiang Kai-shek felt a little relieved, and he patted Song Meiling's hand affectionately: "Darling, let's go to Hanpokou, the sea of ​​clouds there is very spectacular." From July 13 to 15, 1934, Chiang Kai-shek made a report on "Resisting Foreign Aggression and Rejuvenating the Nation" at the Lushan Officer Training Corps. Thoughts: In a short period of time, Japan will not be able to destroy China. If you want to resist Japan, you must obey him absolutely.A few points of summary are as follows:

From the Meiji Restoration, the Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War, until now, the basic spirit of all their education is "loyalty to the emperor and patriotism", that is, to be loyal to the royal family and sacrifice one's life to serve the country; so when it comes to foreign wars, you can The spirit of sharing the same hatred and sacrificing bravely is one of the greatest elements for defeating the enemy. Are the conditions for us to resist the enemy complete?We can give a very simple and painful answer: not at all.Not only are we lacking in material and strength, but we also have no unity in our ideology and spirit!I can affirm that if we go to war with Japan now, there will be some reactionaries who want to destroy us and take the opportunity to make trouble. Taking this point alone, it is enough to kill us. If the enemy does not attack us, we will have civil strife in our country.

If Japan wants to monopolize China, it must first conquer the world. If Japan cannot conquer the world, it will not be able to destroy China and dominate East Asia.Japan has no power to defeat the great powers, and can overwhelm everything in the world, so we can conclude that Japan must not annex China and dominate East Asia. My compatriots all over the country should know that if we China did not get the opportunity and rushed to war with Japan, Japan could completely occupy all important areas of our China within ten days and destroy our China. Judging from the current situation, as long as he issues an order, within three days, he can completely occupy the vital areas of our China and destroy our country!

As long as everyone can absolutely obey the commander-in-chief of the revolution, under one supreme order, we will defend when we are asked, attack when we are asked to attack, retreat when we are asked to retreat, advance when we are asked to advance, live when we are asked to live, and live when we are asked to die. Death, this is the most important condition for our revolutionary soldiers to save the country! Is there any way to resist foreign aggression and revive the nation?It is the four words "safety at home and fighting against foreign countries", which means that peace at home is the only prerequisite and necessary preparatory work for fighting against foreign countries. We must now demand true internal unity and stability before we can resist foreign aggression.Whether it can be crowded outside depends on whether it can be safe inside.

Under the guidance of this ideology, Chiang Kai-shek still focused his energy on "suppressing the Communist Party". The Red Fourth Front Army crushed Liu Xiang's "six-way siege" in Sichuan. After the victory of the Red Fourth Front Army against the "six-way siege", although Chiang Kai-shek was extremely dissatisfied with Liu Xiang's incompetence and the defeat of the Sichuan Army, he also took this opportunity to send the Central Army into Sichuan to take over part of the Sichuan Army's defense and control Sichuan's vital lifeline. "Suppressing the Communist Party" also weakened the local warlord's policy of killing two birds with one stone.

On September 16, 1934, Chiang Kai-shek sent a telegram to Liu Xiang: "Since he has been reinstated as ordered, we will re-distinguish and carry out the campaign with support, so as to cheer him up." On October 12, Chiang Kai-shek flew to Xi'an and personally planned the "Sichuan-Shanxi Campaign", and "dismissed and investigated" Luo Zezhou, who "fleeed" and "reported" the most, so that all troops in Sichuan must strictly obey Liu Xiang's command. At the same time, he ordered Ding Delong's brigade of Hu Zongnan's first division to take over Zhaohua and Guangyuan, sent Shangguan Yunxiang's troops to Kui (now Fengjie) and Wan (county), and transferred Xu Yuanquan's troops to You (Yang) and Xiu (Shanshan) ), Qian (river), Peng (water).These troops acted immediately after being ordered, and it took less than two months to arrive at the designated positions in January 1935. Chiang Kai-shek finally realized his dream of entering Sichuan.Objectively speaking, this also laid the foundation for the future war of resistance, and the Kuomintang government took Sichuan as the rear of the war of resistance.

After Liu Xiang came back and redeployed the forces of the "encirclement and suppression" Red Army, Liu Xiang decided to visit Chiang Kai-shek in Nanjing. On November 15, Liu Xiang sailed eastward from Wanxian on the "Bayu" warship. This was also the first time Liu Xiang left Sichuan. The water of the Yangtze River is so vast that it flows day and night from west to east. The "Bayu" ship followed the turbulent river, entered Hubei through the steep Three Gorges, and arrived in Shashi at 9:00 am on November 16.Chiang Kai-shek sent Xu Yuanquan, Qiu Jia and others to meet him in Shashi.After disembarking, Liu Xiang flew to Hankou together with Xu Yuanquan and Qiu Jia. He Chengjun and Zhang Qun, representatives of Chiang Kai-shek, greeted him at Hankou Airport.On the same day, Liu Xiang stayed at the Central Bank Building in Hankou.Here, Liu Xiang was interviewed by a reporter from the Kuomintang "Central News Agency": On this trip to the east, he only stayed in Wanxian for one day, and was scheduled to go down from Handong to visit Jiang on the 17th.In the past, due to the lack of coordination among the various armies, economic difficulties, and steep terrain in Sichuan Province's bandit suppression military, delays were unavoidable.Kawakita is currently on the defensive.Xiao Ke, who heard that the Guizhou army intercepted him, fled to Dayong. If he stepped up his suppression in the future, it would not be difficult for the Sichuan bandits to be wiped out.Although the length of time is uncertain, if you work hard, four months may be effective.I am very willing to make a general attack as soon as possible to clear up the remnants of the bandits.The military and government in Sichuan Province need to be unified before we can talk about rectifying politics.Then use political power to appease the local area and engage in the suppression of bandits and the aftermath.On the financial side, it is planned to return the salt tax to the central government, and even issue 70 million yuan in public bonds. In order to organize Sichuan, this proposal has already been made. This time, in addition to asking Chiang for instructions on the strategy of suppressing bandits, political and financial issues are also important. I want to make a business request so that it can be conveyed to the central government for approval. After meeting with representatives of Chiang Kai-shek's National Government, Liu Xiang continued to disembark by boat and arrived at Nanjing Xiaguan Wharf on the 20th.Yang Sen, who has been entrenched in a corner of Sichuan all the year round, felt the aura of Stone City in Nanjing, and felt that he should surrender to Chiang Kai-shek and accept Chiang Kai-shek's control of Sichuan.On the second day, Liu Xiang, along with Yang Fangyu, an important staff member, met with Chiang Kai-shek and asked for instructions on "Anchuan's plan".Later, he met with Chiang Kai-shek twice and made it clear that he would send troops to Sichuan to defend the Red Army.Then, he discussed with Kong Xiangxi, Minister of Finance of the Nationalist Government, about Sichuan's financial issues for several days. This "six-way siege" consumed a huge amount of financial resources. Without the support of the Nationalist Government's central finance, Sichuan's local finances could only fall into collapse.Liu Xiang's attitude of full cooperation with the Kuomintang central government made Chiang Kai-shek overjoyed. Both Chiang Kai-shek and Kong Xiangxi supported Liu Xiang and promised to give Liu Xiang military and financial assistance.Chiang Kai-shek wanted to brainwash Liu Xiang, who had been partial to Sichuan for a long time, with the economic development mode and wealth of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. He specially arranged for Liu Xiang to visit Shanghai and Hangzhou, so that Liu Xiang could reposition himself in the soft language and elegance of Wu Nong in Jiangnan. . Liu Xiang strolled and browsed in the Shili Yangchang in Shanghai, experienced the influence of Western culture on China in the high-rise buildings on the banks of the Huangpu River and the ships and warships of foreigners on the Pujiang River; watched the sunset of Leifeng under the weeping willows on the Su Causeway by the West Lake in Hangzhou, and the prosperity of Suzhou and Hangzhou Open his eyes. Liu Xiang went from Nanjing to Shanghai on November 30, went to Hangzhou from Shanghai on December 1, returned to Shanghai from Hangzhou, returned to Nanjing from Shanghai on December 4, and left Sichuan from mid-November to December 10. After returning to Sichuan, Liu Xiang worked hard for days and achieved a lot. He received military and financial support from Jiang and Kong.In particular, Jiang Xu felt great satisfaction with him as the chief executive of Sichuan.In Sichuan, he fought with various warlords and fought for more than ten years. Isn't this the position he sought?Today, with the support of Chiang Kai-shek, all this has been realized.Chiang Kai-shek was even more satisfied, gaining control of Sichuan without firing a single shot.Facts have shown that Chiang Kai-shek's deal was extremely cost-effective.It took only a few years to control Sichuan. In the subsequent Anti-Japanese War, Sichuan became the rear of the Anti-Japanese War. He was also able to use Bashan Shushui to persist in the eight-year war with Japan without surrendering.If he failed to satisfy Liu Xiang at the beginning, it may not be easy to stabilize Sichuan in the future. Before Liu Xiang returned to Chongqing, Chiang Kai-shek immediately started to move. On December 17, Chiang Kai-shek sent an order: (1) Send the first battalion of Shanpao to Chongqing, and put it under the control of Liu Xiang. (2) Order Hu Zongnan of the first division to take over Zhaohua and Guangyuan. (3) Order the 47th Division, the 54th Division, the 44th Division and the Independent Fourth Brigade to form a single road, commanded by Shangguan Yunxiang.The 44th Division and the Independent 4th Brigade passed through Zhushan and Zhuxi and gathered in Pingli, Ankang, and Langao to stand by; the 47th Division and the 54th Division advanced from Xunyang, and then jointly advanced to Wanyuan through Ziyang. On December 18, the Executive Yuan of the Nationalist Government decided to reorganize the Sichuan Provincial Government, appointing Liu Xiang as the chairman of the Sichuan Provincial Government, unifying the military and political power in Sichuan, and Liu Xiang commanding all the military forces in Sichuan; allocating 2.4 million yuan in military expenses and military supplies, ammunition and weapons ; Agree with Liu Xiang to issue a huge amount of public bonds to repay the debts accumulated over the years. On December 19, Liu Xiang returned to Chongqing.It took one month and five days before and after entering Beijing this time, and he sat on the throne of Sichuan Provincial Chairman as he wished.Of course, this is also conditional, that is, to obey Jiang's orders and do everything possible to "encircle and suppress" the Red Army. On December 19, Chiang Kai-shek telegraphed Liu Xiang: He Guoguang and Yang Jihui were appointed as the chief and deputy directors of the staff of the camp stationed in Sichuan, and they have been scheduled to enter Sichuan on a certain day. On December 21, the Nanjing Nationalist Government formally ordered the reorganization of the Sichuan Provincial Government.Liu Wenhui was removed from the post of provincial chairman, and Liu Xiang was appointed chairman of Sichuan Province.Liu Xiang, who became the chairman of Sichuan Province, opened the door to Sichuan and allowed the Kuomintang troops to enter Sichuan. Chiang Kai-shek's unified command of Sichuan's "anti-bandit and suppression of red" was under the unified command of Sichuan. On December 25, Liu Xiang was ordered by Chiang Kai-shek to send troops to assist Guizhou, deploy defenses along the Wujiang River, and encircle the Central Red Army. On January 6, 1935, Liu Xiang's three divisions entered Guizhou, and the front team arrived at Qijiang to prevent the Central Red Army from the Long March. On January 10, Chiang Kai-shek ordered Liu Xiang to enter Guizhou to realize his goal of controlling Guizhou with Sichuan. On January 12, He Guoguang, the director of Chiang Kai-shek's staff group, led the Nanchang camp in Sichuan to officially arrive in Chongqing. The chief of the secret service, Kang Ze, also led more than 2,000 people from the "military branch" ranger to Sichuan to supervise the Sichuan army's "advancement and suppression" of the Red Army. With the central forces of Chiang Kai-shek's national government entering and controlling Sichuan.He Guoguang talked to the reporter triumphantly: "The Sichuan army recently felt that it could not completely obey the command of the central government and could not wipe out the red bandits. The chairman of the committee specially formed a staff group and went to the representative to issue orders." On January 16, Liu Xiang rushed from Chongqing to Luzhou to deploy the anti-blocking Central Red Army. After the explanation, he hurried back to Chongqing and announced that the "Sichuan Bandit Suppression Headquarters" in Chengdu would be located in Chongqing. On January 18, Liu Xiang held a "bandit suppression" meeting in Chongqing. The participants were senior staff officers and senior staff members of the Sichuan warlords' armies. The purpose of the meeting was to review the past mistakes of "suppressing bandits". The staff group guided the whole process of the meeting. Liu Xiang announced at the meeting that in the future, the deployment of Sichuan's "bandit suppression" and important military decisions of various ministries will be consulted with the staff group.This means that Chiang Kai-shek began to directly control the Sichuan warlords.