On August 20, 1925, it had been five months since Sun Yat-sen passed away.
When it was past 8 o'clock, Liao Zhongkai had just finished some official duties, had a quick breakfast, and planned to attend the Central Executive Committee meeting at nine o'clock.
Just two days ago, someone told Liao Zhongkai during a meeting that someone wanted to assassinate him, so be careful.
But Liao Zhongkai not only disagreed, but went about business as usual, drank some porridge, and hurriedly went to the Central Party Headquarters with his wife He Xiangning for a meeting.
Going with him was Chen Qiulin, a supervisory committee member of the National Government and editor of the Guangzhou National Daily. The two met on the road, so they gave Chen Qiulin a ride.
Soon after, Liao Zhongkai and his wife arrived at the Huizhou Guild Hall with Chen Qiulin and got off the bus together. He Xiangning is the Women's Minister of the Central Committee of the Kuomintang. She happened to meet Liu Jiatong, who was also in the Women's Department, and chatted with him for a few words.
While they were chatting, Liao Zhongkai and Chen Qiulin also walked towards the clubhouse and had already climbed up the steps of the clubhouse.
At this moment, two murderers suddenly appeared and raised their guns to shoot at Liao Zhongkai. Almost at the same moment, two more murderers jumped out of the guild hall. Several gunshots rang out, and Liao Zhongkai was hit by several bullets. Chen Qiulin, who was traveling with him, was also shot at the same time and fell to the ground.
For a moment, He Xiangning was in a daze, and even thought that the noise around her was just the sound of firecrackers. But it wasn't until the guard next to her was shot and fell that she realized: It was an assassin!
He Xiangning shouted for help, but no one came to help. Only then did she realize that there was something unusual about the party headquarters today - there were usually tight security guards in front of the party headquarters, but today it was empty and there was not a single guard in sight. He Xiangning could only watch the guards around her fighting with the assassins.
After several struggles, two assassins escaped. One of the other two assassins was killed on the spot, and the other murderer was caught by the guards.
Liao Zhongkai, on the other hand, was shot four times and died before reaching the hospital. Chen Qiulin beside him also died within two days of being treated in the hospital.
Obviously, there are big figures behind this case, and it is a planned murder. So who is the mastermind behind this?
one. Not afraid of assassination, but ultimately assassinated.
Liao Zhongkai was assassinated, and the whole of China was in an uproar, calling for the real murderer to be found.
Liao Zhongkai's prestige in China has always been very high. As early as 1921, when Sun Yat-sen took office as president in Guangdong, he was the Minister of Finance and Deputy Minister of Finance beside Sun Yat-sen.
From 1923 to 1924, Liao Zhongkai became the governor of Guangdong and a provisional member of the Central Committee of the Kuomintang. At that time, because Mr. Sun Yat-sen wanted to absorb the fresh blood of the revolution, he decided to cooperate with the Communist Party. Liao Zhongkai also had a lot of contact with the Communists at this time. From then on, his ideas were greatly affected and he became a Kuomintang leftist.
Within the Kuomintang, the opposite of the "left" is the "right", that is, those who are relatively backward, build up with feudal forces, and leave behind Dr. Sun Yat-sen's " Three People's Principles ", and the "left" is this group of people. The opposite of crowds.
When Sun Yat-sen was alive, he was still able to suppress this group of "rightists", but at that time they had already regarded Liao Zhongkai as a "pro-Communist" and "pro-Communist" element, and were extremely hostile and ostracized towards him.
When Sun Yat-sen was alive, he could still suppress this group of "rightists", but they were already extremely hostile to and excluded Liao Zhongkai.
After Sun Yat-sen's death, as the "anti-communist" voice within the Kuomintang became stronger and stronger, It has long been no longer planned to continue Sun Yat-sen's three major policies of "alliance with Russia, alliance with the Communist Party, and support of agriculture and industry".
At this time, Liao Zhongkai, together with Wang Jingwei, became the core of the left and resolutely continued Sun Yat-sen's "New Three People's Principles". Therefore, he naturally became the target of public criticism and was vigorously attacked within the party.
The reason why the right wing has such great power within the party is ultimately determined by the internal membership structure of the Kuomintang.The "Revolution of 1911" launched by Mr. Sun Yat-sen and the subsequent revolutionary activities were all bourgeois revolutions, which relied heavily on the emerging social bourgeoisie, old bureaucracy and some feudal forces.
However, this group of forces naturally has a certain tendency to degenerate. It is easy for them to gradually become conservative elements after the formation of a political power, and they are no longer willing to completely eliminate the backward forces in the country. In a sense, they themselves are backward.
The fundamental purpose of Mr. Sun Yat-sen's decision to unite with the Communist Party is to replenish positive and energetic fresh blood. It is his expedient measure. Sooner or later, the contradiction between the workers and peasants and this force will be exposed nakedly.
Liao Zhongkai completely angered the rightists, as marked by his publication of "Revolutionaries and Counterrevolutionaries" in May 1925. In this article, he mercilessly attacked the so-called "old revolutionary party", that is, the right elements.
This article mentioned that these so-called "old revolutionary parties" are actually "counterrevolutionaries" who colluded with feudal bureaucrats, warlords and imperialism.
Liao Zhongkai's status and reputation in the hearts of the Chinese people are of great importance, so as soon as his article was published, it immediately caused an uproar in domestic public opinion.
Obviously, this article deeply hurt the rightists. Their patience with Liao Zhongkai reached the limit and they decided to "deal with" Liao Zhongkai.
In fact, the murder of Liao Zhongkai is no longer a secret. At that time, when Liao Zhongkai had frequent meetings with Soviet advisers, rightist Zhu Zhuowen conspired to suddenly shoot Liao Zhongkai where he was meeting, using machine guns to shoot him and a group of leftist leaders around him.
It is no secret that people on the right want to assassinate Liao Zhongkai. People around Liao Zhongkai have reminded him many times, but Liao Zhongkai has always regarded death as unforgettable.
People around Liao Zhongkai have reminded him many times to be careful of assassins. Liao Zhongkai has never They all took it lightly.
Although Zhu Zhuowen's plan to shoot Liao Zhongkai with a machine gun was eventually blocked because the news was revealed, Liao Zhongkai showed no fear about it and just laughed and said: "It's really new to use a machine gun to assassinate. "
Liao Zhongkai's wife He Xiangning also heard the news and kept urging Liao Zhongkai to bring two more guards to protect his safety.
But Liao Zhongkai did not agree, and told his wife that if the enemy really wanted to commit murder, two more guards would not be able to stop him, and at most they could catch the assassin.
As for his own life? Liao Zhongkai said: "My life is worthy of the party and the country. Even if I die, I have nothing to fear. But it is absolutely impossible for me to stop the revolution."
In fact, until two days before Liao Zhongkai was assassinated, Liao Zhongkai He had already learned the news of his assassination during the meeting. Liao Zhongkai was not surprised by this. Instead, he said that revolution must always be done. Even if he dies, he will continue to carry out revolution.
So on August 20, 1925, this assassination incident that shocked foreign countries took place. And this case has left an eternal mystery to the Chinese people - who is the murderer?
2. Who is the real murderer behind the scenes? After the
assassination incident, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China immediately sent a telegram of condolences. The telegram expressed deep concern about the assassination of Liao Zhongkai, and pointed out that the murderer's purpose was to overthrow the revolution and threaten the National Government.
At the same time, people from all walks of life across the country, especially revolutionaries, are calling for the murderer of Liao Zhongkai to give everyone an explanation.
The National Government immediately established the "Liao Case Inspection Committee" composed of nine people including Zhu Peide, Chen Shuren, Zhou Enlai, Chen Gongbo, and Li Fulin, responsible for tracing the masterminds behind the case.
After that, Borodin established a "Special Committee on the Liao Case", whose members were mainly composed of three people-Wang Jingwei, Xu Chongzhi, Chiang Kai-shek.
It is worth mentioning that although Chiang Kai-shek had many brothers within the party, his foundation within the party was not solid and his status was even mediocre.
However, the reason why he was able to join this "special committee" was that the Soviet advisers and Wang Jingwei were inconvenient to hand over too many matters to the rightists for reasons such as avoiding stakeholders. Instead, they openly and strongly supported " United Russia and the Communist Party " Chiang Kai-shek pulled over.
In this way, the "Special Committee" will have a figure who looks very much like the left, and the "Special Committee" composed of three people will be convincing.
The most important clue to the case at that time was undoubtedly the only one of the four assassins who was injured and arrested. When he was first captured, his injuries were quite serious, so the interrogation was conducted while rescuing him.
First of all, the "Special Committee" obtained a so-called money-sharing list from Chen Shun. There were several names on it - Liang Bo, Feng Can, Wu Pei, etc.
What is more embarrassing is that these people are exactly Xu Chongzhi's subordinates in the "Special Committee".
This put Xu Chongzhi in a dilemma. At first, he wanted to protect his subordinates, but later he gradually understood the situation and knew that if he protected these subordinates again, he would be implicated, so he arrested these subordinates.
Xu Chongzhi wanted to protect his subordinates at first, but later he gradually understood the situation. Because he was afraid that he would be implicated, he arrested these subordinates.
At almost the same time, Chiang Kai-shek also dispatched party troops to arrest these subordinates. All were lifted, and in the end the Cantonese army lost power and returned home with a relatively peaceful result.
Of course, these are all things for later. After interrogating Chen Shun, the "Special Committee" learned that the four men assassinated Liao Zhongkai because a man named Huang Fuzhi in Macau spent 10,000 yuan to name them and asked them to kill Liao Zhongkai.
They had made an appointment with Liang Bo and others to have tea at Wanfu Tower in the morning, and then ambush near the Huizhou Guild Hall, waiting for Liao Zhongkai to enter their ambush circle.
According to Liang Bo and other Xu Chongzhi's subordinates, they were instructed by Zhu Zhuowen to assassinate Liao Zhongkai.
According to Liang Bo and other Xu Chongzhi's subordinates, they were instructed by Zhu Zhuowen to assassinate Liao Zhongkai
Who is this Zhu Zhuowen?
To put it simply, he is quite close to Hu Hanmin’s cousin Hu Yisheng, and this Hu Hanmin is a representative figure of the right wing. It can be said that Zhu Zhuowen is one of the figures in the right-wing inner circle.
Zhu Zhuowen was once one of the elders of the Alliance . He was responsible for protecting Sun Yat-sen's safety and taking care of Sun Yat-sen's life and work. When the Liao Zhongkai case occurred, Zhu Zhuowen was still the county magistrate of Xiangshan County.
At this point, we seem to be able to outline a general picture of the entire conspiracy.
That was Hu Hanmin's cousin. Seeing that his brother, a representative of the right wing, was denounced as a "counterrevolutionary" by Liao Zhongkai, he planned to stand up for his brother and sent an assassin to assassinate Liao Zhongkai. Of course, it is not ruled out that Hu Hanmin had some feelings for his younger brother. hint.
As for Zhu Zhuowen, he was not only Hu Yisheng's best friend, but also had a direct conflict of interest with Liao Zhongkai. When Liao Zhongkai reorganized the Kuomintang, he dismissed Zhu Zhuowen from the post of county magistrate and confiscated his family property.
It can be imagined that Zhu Zhuowen hated Liao Zhongkai in his heart, so he had quite the motive to assassinate Liao Zhongkai.
However, because of the problems between Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei, it is still a mystery whether Zhu Zhuowen is the real culprit behind it. It turned out that after Zhu Zhuowen was confirmed as a suspect, Soviet advisers asked the "Special Committee" to arrest Zhu Zhuowen and others.
However, Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei did not order their arrest, and the reason given was somewhat absurd: insufficient evidence.
Regardless of whether these two people intended it or not, the end result was that Hu Yisheng, Zhu Zhuowen and others took advantage of this gap to escape to Hong Kong, and all they caught were small fish like Liang Hongkai and Lin Zhimian.
As for Hu Hanmin, he is a representative figure of the right wing after all. Although there is no direct evidence to prove that he is the mastermind, he was still forced to resign because he was implicated.
After Zhu Zhuowen escaped, he immediately issued a statement that was unknown whether it was true or false. He admitted that he had indeed held a rally with the Kuomintang members. After drinking for three rounds, he had also conspired with others to assassinate Borodin and Liao Zhongkai to exclude these leftists.
However, according to his statement, this plan was not finally implemented. Because the director of the Public Security Bureau learned the news and immediately warned them not to touch Liao Zhongkai, the plan was eventually abandoned.
If this statement is true, then although Zhu Zhuowen had the motive to kill Liao Zhongkai, he may not be the real culprit behind the Liao Zhongkai case.
three. Hong Kong's strike movement
So who is the murderer behind it?
When Liao Zhongkai was assassinated, workers in Hong Kong and Guangzhou launched a large-scale strike in support of the May 30 anti-imperialist patriotic movement, and the scale gradually expanded.
When Liao Zhongkai was assassinated, workers in Hong Kong and Guangzhou launched a large-scale strike in order to support the May 30 anti-imperialist patriotic movement, and the scale gradually expanded.
This strike directly hit British interests, because at that time Hong Kong is still under the control of the United Kingdom. During this strike, Hong Kong's transportation was interrupted, British goods were strongly boycotted, and factories were largely paralyzed. This series of actions gave the Hong Kong government a headache. Why does
mention this background? In fact, behind the scenes, this incident has a secret connection with the Liao Zhongkai case.
At that time, the Hong Kong government was helpless to deal with the workers' strike and repeatedly asked the British government for help. However, the British government was unwilling to interfere in the matter and turned a blind eye. It said that the government's responsibility was only to protect the private property of British expatriates in China. , and advised the Hong Kong government to "be patient and wait for the time."
The isolated Hong Kong government knew that the British government was no longer reliable, so it had to rely on its own hands to solve the problem and set its sights on the Guangzhou National Revolutionary Government. The reason why
pointed the finger at Guangzhou is because the strike movement in Hong Kong was largely guided and launched by Liao Zhongkai. Therefore, in order to solve the strike problem, it must be "rooted and eliminated."
In order to achieve this goal, the Hong Kong government did not hesitate to allocate a huge sum of money (two million yuan) to bribe desperadoes in Guangzhou to assassinate Liao Zhongkai in order to attack the National Government and disintegrate the strike.
In order to break up the strike in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong government did not hesitate to allocate a huge sum of money (two million yuan) to bribe desperadoes in Guangzhou to assassinate Liao Zhongkai in order to attack the National Government.
This is in line with the enemy's purpose stated in the CCP Central Committee's cable. "Overthrow the National Government and overthrow the revolution" are consistent to a large extent.
The Hong Kong government's bribery of desperadoes can also be proven in Chen Shun's confession - he once said that the Hong Kong government had spent a huge sum of two million to assassinate Liao Zhongkai in order to combat the National Government and workers' strikes. the goal of.
The Guangdong National Government also arrested some insiders. Among them, Yang Jinlong, commander of the 8th Brigade of the First Guangdong Army, Yang Jinlong also mentioned that the Hong Kong government did spend a huge sum of two million to assassinate Liao Zhongkai.
On August 13, before Liao Zhongkai was assassinated, " Guangzhou Republic Daily " also mentioned that the Hong Kong government planned to use 2 million yuan to bribe reactionaries to disrupt the strike, and reminded everyone to pay attention.
So who is the person bribed by the Hong Kong government? Yes, they are the old subordinates of Xu Chongzhi mentioned above. Their status was gradually damaged under the National Government and they became a group of frustrated soldiers. Therefore, they held a grudge against Liao Zhongkai and others.
So the Hong Kong government bought this group of people with 2 million yuan, and then there was this assassination incident that shocked the country and abroad.
4． The impact of the Liao Zhongkai case
The real murderer behind the scenes has been found, so who are the beneficiaries of this assassination?
First of all, the death of Liao Zhongkai was a huge blow to the left-wing forces of the Nationalist Government. From then on, the reactionary forces gradually became the mainstream of the Kuomintang. This was objectively a result that imperialism was very willing to see.
What is interesting is that there have been huge changes in the personnel and power within the Kuomintang.
When Sun Yat-sen passed away, there was no clear successor. Hu Hanmin was originally considered the oldest person in the Kuomintang, and he also replaced Sun Yat-sen as the general marshal.
Hu Hanmin was originally the most qualified person, but after all, Sun Yat-sen did not clearly identify his successor, which led to people other than him who felt they were qualified to succeed also coveting this position.
The final result is that the affairs of the Kuomintang are actually managed by Hu Hanmin, Liao Zhongkai and Wang Jingwei.
, these three people are not simple. Liao Zhongkai received the support of Soviet advisers due to his pro-communist tendencies; Hu Hanmin was senior and belonged to the right wing of the Kuomintang, so he had many supporters; and although Wang Jingwei was relatively weak, because of this, he helped all forces. He accepts all comers, and the Soviet Union and Japan are all cards in his hand.
Under this situation, the forces of the Kuomintang government were so intertwined that it was difficult to distinguish between them. Wang Jingwei also understood in his heart that his position was actually quite reluctant. If he wanted to solidify his position in the party, he would need other help.
Although Wang Jingwei was relatively weak at the beginning, because of this, he did not refuse help from all forces. The Soviet Union, Japan, etc. were all considered cards in his hand.
His eyes were set on Chiang Kai-shek - Chiang Kai-shek was the most suitable person. He has a low status in the party, so he has needs for himself; and he has the connections inherited from Chen Qimei and his student connections as the principal of Huangpu Military Academy, which is of great use to Wang Jingwei. .
It happened that at this time, Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei joined the "Special Committee" because he was a bit "leftist".
Therefore, this investigation was not just an investigation, but an opportunity for Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei to seize profits and gain power.
Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei worked together to exclude the commander-in-chief of the Guangdong Army Xu Chongzhi and Hu Hanmin, which greatly dealt a blow to the right-wing forces within the party. Since then, Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei have each gained something -
Wang Jingwei has become the chairman of the Kuomintang and has gained political power; Chiang Kai-shek has taken control of the Kuomintang's military power because he took away Xu Chongzhi's troops.
If you ask who has benefited the most, it must be Chiang Kai-shek. Regardless of his sworn relationship with Xu Chongzhi, he annexed his Cantonese army and reorganized the troops. Their strength was far beyond what it had been in the past.
Chiang Kai-shek jumped from an unknown figure with no voice to the center of power
. Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek entered the power center of the Kuomintang from an unknown person who could not speak in the power circle in the past and became the director of the National Revolution.
It can be said that the outcome of the Liao Zhongkai case is no longer important to these two people. It is just a stepping stone to change their destiny. Assuming that Liao Zhongkai was still alive, I am afraid he would not have given Chiang Kai-shek such a chance to rise to prominence.
His honey is my arsenic. This event was enough for Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei to celebrate, but it was a fatal blow to the relationship between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.
After Sun Yat-sen's death, the anti-communist voice within the Kuomintang became increasingly fierce. After Liao Zhongkai's death, the truly influential pro-Communist people almost no longer existed in the party. Instead, people like Wang Jingwei and Chiang Kai-shek who later betrayed the revolution were classified as leftists. It is indeed ridiculous.
