In December 1949, Chiang Kai-shek , accompanied by his family and confidants, boarded the plane to Taiwan, , looking back on half of his life, it was like a winding river and mountains stretching under his feet, and his heart was filled with emotions.
During the War of Resistance Against Japan, for the sake of power in hand, "We must first calm the country when we fight against foreign countries" 's stupid proposition caused his prestige in everyone's minds to become increasingly depressed, and also laid the root of disaster for his future situation.
After the end of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Chiang Kai-shek returned to his previous stupid concepts. He ignored his compatriots' wishes to pray for peace and took the lead in launching the civil war. Even though he became a pawn for a big country, he remained indifferent. As a result, it took only four years for him and his remaining troops to retreat to Taiwan until his death.
Later, under the advice of Stanford University in the United States, Chiang Kai-shek's diary manuscripts were made public with the authorization of Chiang Kai-shek's descendants.
diary mentioned two people, two people who made Chiang Kai-shek angry. He scolded them in his diary: "I can't wait for others to lose my country, and these two people are the culprit!"
game of major powers
After the end of World War II , both the United States and the Soviet Union realized the strength of each other, and for China, which is still in the struggle, the United States of America hopes that the pro-US Chiang Kai-shek side can completely take power.
In October 1945, Truman comprehensively considered, told his subordinates: "Our policy is to support Chiang, but we must not be involved in China's civil war."
In order to stabilize the situation in China, the United States, on the one hand, feared the Soviet Union, which was kind to the Communist Party, and could not send troops to directly support it; on the other hand, it must use its own influence to curb the civil war, so George Marshall was selected by Truman.
According to " Yalta Agreement " , the Soviet troops stationed in Northeast China should have retreated within 3 months after Japan surrendered to . The Soviet Union also agreed to the request of the Kuomintang to send people to accept it, but there was no plan to retreat. Why is this?
It turned out that the Kuomintang did not have enough transportation force to send the large troops to the Northeast. He was afraid that after the Soviet Union withdrew, the Communist Party would take advantage of the situation, so he had to ask the Soviet army to temporarily suspend the retreat and cooperate with the Kuomintang's acceptance time.
In fact, the Soviet army did not intend to really hand over the Northeast to the National Government. They were staring at the forces behind the Kuomintang.
In short, a delicate balance suddenly appeared between the United States and the Soviet Union.
The US side is afraid that the Northeast will become the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union is also worried that the "bad eagle" will be eyed by the doorstep. In addition, the CCP firmly opposes it, and the Soviet Union does not take the agreement seriously at all.
An interesting scene happened. The Soviet Union refused to transport the Kuomintang army to the Dalian by the US military. The US side drove the warship into the Dalian route as if it were a good example. No one planned to really solve the problem.
In short, because the United States and the Soviet Union are afraid of each other, they do not want to interfere in China's internal affairs. Even though they are the forces behind the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, they can still sit at the table to negotiate and restrict each other on China's issues.
Therefore, both the United States and the Soviet Union want to protect the world pattern after World War II and try to avoid high confrontation caused by the Chinese civil war.
The constraints of five-star general
George Marshall was sent to Chiang Kai-shek in this situation, but unfortunately he did not understand Chinese politics or Chinese military tactics.
In the secret battle between the United States and the Soviet Union, he vigorously restricted Chiang Kai-shek according to President Truman's instructions, causing Chiang Kai-shek to miss many opportunities.
However, Chiang Kai-shek himself made a major mistake. After many talks, the Soviet Union, under pressure from the United States and the Soviet Union, still chose to hand over the Northeast to the National Government. However, Chiang Kai-shek actually wanted to kill two birds with one stone. While trying to ask the Soviet army to help him suppress the Communist Party, he also wanted to stand on the commanding heights of national justice, and wanted to criticize the Soviet army for delaying in the newspaper.
Soviet leader Stalin was furious, so in February 1946, he ordered the Soviet army to withdraw from the Northeast, giving Lin Biao a lot of time to annihilate the puppet Manchukuo armed forces incorporated by the Kuomintang in the Northeast, and at the same time transferred a large amount of arms. At this time, Chiang Kai-shek was under pressure and almost wanted to give up the Northeast.
How can Marshall agree? Now North Korea has become independent, and it happens that the Japanese government's center left wing has also risen in a high-profile manner. If the Northeast really puts the Soviet Union in control, then the geopolitical situation in the entire Northeast Asia will be full of dangers, so he strongly persuaded Chiang Kai-shek not to give up and vigorously helped him transport troops and supplies.
Soon, Du Yuming assembled 240,000 regular troops, and together with the 80,000 puppet Manchukuo armed forces incorporated, 's military strength advantage instantly crushed Lin Biao.
But unfortunately, due to Marshall's excessive radicalism, Chiang Kai-shek pushed almost all his vitality to the Northeast battlefield, which was undoubtedly a desperate situation.
Marshall relied on his own ability to lobby on both sides, but actually really suppressed Chiang Kai-shek. He began to organize negotiations and forced the Kuomintang and the Communist Party to sign an armistice agreement.
In March 1946, the two sides reached a series of practical agreements on the draft constitution, the program for peaceful establishment of the country, and military issues.
This period of time made Chiang Kai-shek very painful. He wrote all his grievances and unwillingness into his diary.
Marshall felt that the matter had been resolved almost. Unexpectedly, at the end of March, Du Yuming suddenly attacked Shenyang. Marshall was shocked. He knew that he was in the wrong and had to restrict Chiang Kai-shek from concessions.
, the Communist Party, who had expected the negotiations, saw through its opponents, no longer had any hope, and completely gave up on the peace talks.
In June 11946, the civil war officially broke out.
After half a year of struggle, Chiang Kai-shek became increasingly unable to control the overall situation. In the end, Marshall returned to China and gave up handling of the Chinese civil war.
On October 19, 1948, Chiang Kai-shek, who was repeatedly unfavorable and angry, complained loudly: "This Marshall wants to bring the party and the country into a place of no return! I will postpone the marching after entering Jinzhou, but Marshall insists on taking over the Northeast. Now all my elite troops have been sent to the Northeast, and there is no troops guarding Nanjing!"
Marshall does not understand what Chinese politicians and military strategists do. He holds a responsible attitude towards the United States. As for where China goes, he actually doesn't care.
, and Chiang Kai-shek also had no courage to refuse to obey the "suggestions" of a special envoy. After all, he had to rely on the intervention of the United States and could not offend .
Chiang Kai-shek complained in his later years that Marshall hindered his actions to "unify" China, but he did not examine himself. Under the command of "doing evil indiscriminately", it was impossible for him and his troops to have the power to fight against the Communist Party, not to mention that even in the National Government, it was difficult for him to achieve absolute real power.
Political enemies constrain
The power of an ambitious man often attracts more ambitions. In fact, this so-called "companion" often slowly develops the idea of replacing the former as his identity increases. Li Zongren is such a person . When the coup occurred, Li Zongren was unswerving and wholeheartedly supported Chiang Kai-shek. With his unique execution ability, he had a huge obstruction and crackdown on the development of the Communist Party. Therefore, he gained the importance of Chiang Kai-shek and gained many people who believed him.
However, the relationship between Li Zongren and Chiang Kai-shek is very delicate. He is different from other confidants under Chiang Kai-shek. Li Zongren did not join the Kuomintang with the belief in the party and the country or admiration for Chiang Kai-shek. His purpose is very pure, just because it is profitable to follow Chiang Kai-shek.
As early as after Northern Expedition , he and Chiang Kai-shek and other local forces went to war many times, and each other won and lost. Although Chiang Kai-shek defeated Li Zongren in " Jianggui War " and expelled him from the party, he actually did not take it seriously.
Later, during the War of Resistance Against Japan in 2014, he and Bai Chongxi mobilized the Guangxi army to fight against the Japanese army, cooperated to command many large-scale battles, and achieved many victories. The Guangxi army was officially adapted by Chiang Kai-shek into the Fifth Route Army, and appointed him as the commander-in-chief .
As his position in the Kuomintang grew higher and higher, the ambition seed buried deep in his heart finally broke out under the watering of desire. At that time, the Kuomintang had serious internal friction, and all factions had a disagreement, and most of them had an attitude of watching the fire from the other side.
As a leader of the hundreds of thousands of Guangxi military forces, Li Zongren has never been very convinced by Chiang Kai-shek, especially when Chiang Kai-shek dealt with the Northeast issue, there were already a lot of complaints among the parties. Li Zongren felt that the time was coming and began to focus on finding opportunities to speak within the party.
Finally, in 1948, Li Zongren voted as Vice President of the Republic of China and sat side by side with Chiang Kai-shek.
At this time, Chiang Kai-shek realized that when he was dealing with the civil war in a hurry, an invisible opponent actually climbed to him step by step.
"Any decision-making mistake is the fault of me, Mr. Jiang. He, Li Zongren, will not be connected at all!" Chiang Kai-shek knew very well that in this situation, if he could no longer achieve some results or get international support, it is very likely that Li Zongren would really replace him.
Later, it did prove Chiang Kai-shek's conjecture. After failed in the three major battles of , the United States began to "abandon Chiang and kiss Li".
If Chiang Kai-shek hadn't had the superb skills of the people, he might have been kicked out of the Kuomintang's leadership core long ago. In order to choose a representative who can interfere in China's internal affairs, the United States has set its sights on the growing Guangxi clan.
" Chiang Kai-shek are all second-rate guys in military and political terms, but when it comes to power and tricks, there is no one in the world who can stand out." Li Zongren saw Chiang Kai-shek very thoroughly. He had been assassinated by Chiang Kai-shek and was also better than Chiang Kai-shek. In short, he knew this "comrade-in-arms" and "opponent".
Sure enough, Chiang Kai-shek pretended to be forced to step down and let Li Zongren take his position as the leader.
But in fact, he had already seen through Li Zongren. Today, Chiang Kai-shek cannot use the hands of the party or the United States to get rid of this leader of the Guangxi clan, but he can secretly let him clean up the mess of the civil war.
This strategy of retreating to advance is extremely clever. , as Li Zongren commented, Chiang Kai-shek did have first-class power skills .
In this way, Chiang Kai-shek, who was leaving his hometown, not only took away all the gold and silver from the treasury, but also installed 7 high-power radio stations at home, controlling his Central Army from afar.
Li Zongren was furious and not only became a president without real power, but also had no penny. He could only run away in this position and resist open and secret arrows for Chiang Kai-shek.
Although the two people's fight for power and profits was apparently won by Li Zongren, in fact, Chiang Kai-shek's influence on the National Government is still deeply rooted.
Under this internal friction, Li Zongren's Guangxi faction was almost completely damaged. When he called the CCP and was willing to start the negotiations with the eight articles proposed by the CCP, Chiang Kai-shek jumped out to object, causing the peace talks that were originally carried out as planned to break down again.
Through this constraint, Chiang Kai-shek completely undermined Li Zongren and ordered all gold and silver dollars to be transferred to Taiwan.
Chiang Kai-shek's move was a way to cut off the fire. On the one hand, he transported Shanghai's strategic materials and accumulated capital for a comeback in the future. On the other hand, he used Li Zongren as a pawn, and made him unable to defend Nanjing at all, thus unable to achieve the goal of "grabbing the river and governing" with the CCP.
The exhausted Guangxi system Li Zongren no longer had any political say. Later, in the internal strife in Taiwan, he flew to the United States to protect himself.
Not long after, Chiang Kai-shek held a meeting in Taiwan, removed Li Zongren from all positions, and declared his victory.
But in the later diary, Chiang Kai-shek had no sympathy for this former opponent. He claimed that Li Zongren took the lead in forcing him to step down, which was no different from "forcing the palace".
Chiang Kai-shek wrote in his diary: "Li Zongren used democracy and freedom as an excuse to please and surrender to the CCP, and was the culprit of the destruction of the government. Unfortunately, I was stupid and unaware of it. I didn't expect his plan in advance and felt ashamed of the party and the country!"
It can be seen that Chiang Kai-shek did not take his underestimation of Li Zongren at all, but instead blamed him blindly.
In contrast, in July 1965, Li Zongren, who had been wandering outside for many years, resolutely chose to return to the embrace of his motherland.
When seeing the achievements of the New China, he smiled and said: "I am both losers and Jiang. He can blame everyone, but I am happy because of failure, because in my failure a new China was born!"
