After the Kuomintang was defeated in Taiwan, China in 1949, Chiang Kai-shek in order to gain a foothold in Taiwan and at the same time pave the way for his son Chiang Ching-kuo to take over, he began to transform the Kuomintang, excluding the Kuomintang elders, and attracted many newcomers to the top management.
After two years of reform, Chiang Kai-shek not only placed a large number of cronies in many key departments, but also included his son Chiang Ching-kuo in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, bringing Chiang Ching-kuo into the core of the Kuomintang.
However, even though Chiang Kai-shek deliberately paved the way for Chiang Ching-kuo, Chiang Ching-kuo's path to politics was not smooth sailing, and he encountered various challenges and "enemies". For example, when he was in control of the intelligence and governance system, he took over the former military and central unification systems and fought with Mao Renfeng, causing Mao Renfeng's confidant Du Changcheng to try to kidnap him, but before he could do it, the incident happened, and he escaped with little risk.
Seriously speaking, Chiang Ching-kuo actually had four opponents on his way to take over, who posed a real threat to him. They were Chiang Kai-shek's wife Song Meiling , "Small Chairman" Chen Cheng, Wu Guozhen, and Zhou Zhirou.
Let’s first talk about Chiang Ching-kuo’s stepmother rival Soong Meiling.
The relationship between Chiang Ching-kuo and Soong Meiling, his stepmother, was very delicate. They were at odds with each other. The main reason was that Chiang Ching-kuo was only 13 years younger than Soong Meiling. When Soong Meiling married Chiang Kai-shek, Chiang Ching-kuo was already a 17-year-old young man. If Chiang Ching-kuo was still young, Soong Meiling would still have the opportunity to develop a relationship with her, but unfortunately she did not have this opportunity.
At the same time, after Soong Meiling had a miscarriage in her early years and could no longer have children, she treated her eldest sister Soong Ailing's four children as her own, and she had no intention of establishing a close mother-child relationship with Chiang Ching-kuo.
The relationship between the two people became further tense after Chiang Ching-kuo's failed tiger hunt in Shanghai in 1948, because at that time Soong Meiling supported her nephew Kong Lingkan instead of her stepson Chiang Ching-kuo.
After the Kuomintang's defeat in Taiwan, Chiang Ching-kuo often competed with Soong Meiling.
For example, in the battle between Chiang Ching-kuo and Mao Renfeng mentioned above, Mao Renfeng found Soong Meiling as his backer. The two sides fought back and forth, but in the end Mao Renfeng failed, and Soong Meiling's support did not fundamentally reverse the situation.
In 1967, Soong Meiling hoped that Lu Yizheng, whom she admired, would serve as the "Information Director". Chiang Kai-shek agreed, but Chiang Ching-kuo was unwilling. At the last moment, Lu Yizheng's name was removed and replaced by Wei Jingmeng.
The reason for this is that Lu Yizhen was a student of the 13th period of the political school. The students of this period had fiercely opposed Chiang Ching-kuo's appointment as the director of education.
The reason why Chiang Ching-kuo easily "defeated" his stepmother Soong Meiling was due to his father Chiang Kai-shek, because Chiang Kai-shek vigorously attacked other factions in order to centralize power and let his son Chiang Ching-kuo take over.
Like Soong Meiling's natal family, the eldest brother Soong Ziwen and the eldest brother-in-law Kong Xiangxi were working as apartment owners in New York, USA, and had no political power. That is, Miss Kong Second Kong Lingwei lived with her aunt Soong Meiling like a shadow, but it did not play any role.
In addition to Soong Meiling's insistence on relations with the United States, as her natal family was suppressed, her political power became weaker and weaker. After all, Chiang Kai-shek did not allow anyone to threaten the status of his son Chiang Ching-kuo, including his wife Soong Meiling.
Chiang Ching-kuo's second enemy, Chen Cheng, died of illness prematurely, which somewhat means "died before he left the army".
Chen Cheng, also known as Cixiu, is the second-ranking figure of the Kuomintang. He has always been highly valued by Chiang Kai-shek. He has the saying that "China cannot live without Cixiu for a day", and is called the "little chairman".
He was also Chiang Kai-shek's godson-in-law, and his wife Tan Xiang's father Tan Yankai was Soong Meiling's godbrother. With this relationship, Soong Meiling recognized Tan Xiang as her goddaughter.
After arriving in Taiwan, Chen Cheng's power reached its peak, serving as the "Vice President" and "Vice President" of the Kuomintang.
Strictly speaking, Chen Cheng was not only Chiang Ching-kuo's biggest rival on the road to succession, but also Chiang Kai-shek's biggest potential rival.
Chen Cheng also had the idea of succeeding Chiang Kai-shek and showing his ambitions. Unfortunately, Chiang Kai-shek did not want to abdicate and also wanted to train his son Chiang Ching-kuo to take over. Therefore, after continuing to serve as "president" in 1960, Chen Cheng was disheartened.
On March 5, 1965, Chen Cheng died in Taipei of liver cancer .
If Chen Cheng did not die, he would definitely be the biggest obstacle to Chiang Ching-kuo's succession. There are only two results. One is a life-and-death fight with Chiang Ching-kuo, and then he is deposed by Chiang Kai-shek. The second is to recognize the situation clearly and assist Chiang Ching-kuo to take over. He may be like Yan Jiagan who served as "president" for a few years after Chiang Kai-shek's death and then gave way to Chiang Ching-kuo.
After Chen Cheng's death, Chiang Kai-shek was sad and happy . Sad that his confidant had left like this, but happy that the biggest obstacle to his son Jiang Ching-kuo's succession was automatically eliminated.
Chiang Ching-kuo also showed enough respect for his boss. When Chen Cheng was seriously ill, he visited Chen Cheng many times and stayed at his residence. After Chen Cheng's death, he even said heartbroken : "I have lost the mentor who I have followed for nearly thirty years."
Chiang Ching-kuo’s third enemy, Wu Guozhen, was among the first to be eliminated.
Wu Guozhen studied in the United States as a Ph.D. After returning to China, he was reused by Chiang Kai-shek and served successively as the special mayor of Hankou , the mayor of Chongqing, and the mayor of Shanghai. After
arrived in Taiwan, because of his background in the United States, he was further reused by Chiang Kai-shek and served as the "Provincial Chairman" of Taiwan. Wu Guozhen had conflicts with Chen Cheng, and he also had conflicts with Chiang Ching-kuo.
When Chiang Ching-kuo was hunting tigers in Shanghai in 1948, Wu Guozhen served as the mayor of Shanghai. He was very dissatisfied with Chiang Ching-kuo's rough and direct approach, and the two people accumulated conflicts.
When Chiang Kai-shek wanted Chiang Ching-kuo to take over, he first let him control the intelligence system and launched a spy rule in Taiwan.
As the "provincial chairman" of Taiwan, Wu Guochen has always disliked spy rule, so a fierce conflict broke out with Chiang Ching-kuo, in which Chiang Kai-shek could not make peace. Over time, the conflict between Wu Guochen, Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo and his son became more and more profound.
After the incident, Wu Guozhen could only submit his resignation to Chiang Kai-shek, but Chiang Kai-shek did not approve it at first.
In 1952, Wu Guozhen and his wife Huang Zhuoqun went from Sun Moon Lake to Taipei Shilin Official Residence to meet Soong Meiling. Ling tried his best to keep him in his job but failed. When Wu Guozhen returned, his wife Huang Zhuoqun had a stomachache on the way, so he stopped the car to have a meal at the Wuxi Hotel. When he came out, he found that the car had been tampered with, and almost everyone was killed.
Wu Guochen therefore believed that he could no longer stay in Taiwan. When Chiang Kai-shek finally approved his resignation in 1953, he wanted to go to the United States to live. Chiang Ching-kuo wanted to detain him, but Soong Meiling played a role in it. Wu Guochen left his father and youngest son, who were nearly 80 years old, as hostages before leaving.
It can also be seen from here that, whether intentionally or unintentionally, Song Meiling mostly made friends with people whom Chiang Ching-kuo disliked, and even supported them in confronting Chiang Ching-kuo. It can be seen from the side that the struggle between the two stepmothers was due to the discord between their sons and their hearts.
Wu Guozhen can be said to be the first to be eliminated. In 1953, he was forced to live in the United States.
Chiang Ching-kuo’s fourth opponent, Zhou Zhirou, was even more vulnerable.
Zhou Zhirou is Chen Cheng's confidant and a senior member of the civil engineering department. In his early years, Chen Cheng recommended him to Chiang Kai-shek, and he began to slowly master the Kuomintang's air force.
After the Kuomintang's defeat in Taiwan, Zhou Zhirou served as Taiwan's "Provincial Chairman" in 1957. Because of Chen Cheng's support and Chiang Kai-shek's reuse, he wanted to be promoted to "Executive President" again.
Zhou Zhirou was one of Chiang Ching-kuo’s opponents on his way up, whether it was his relationship with Chen Cheng or his desire to be promoted to "Executive President".
When Chiang Ching-kuo competed with Zhou Zhirou for the position of "Executive President", Zhou Zhirou's close confidant Li Jingsun was targeted by Chiang Ching-kuo's faction because of the "Zhou Zaixian" content he published every week in the "Dahua Evening News". Later, when sorting out his interpersonal relationships, he was charged with charges. After this attack, Zhou Zhirou was unable to afford it, while Chiang Ching-kuo became the "Executive President" as he wished.
After Chiang Ching-kuo overcame every obstacle on his way to succession, after the death of his father Chiang Kai-shek and after three years of transition from Yan Jiagan, he successfully succeeded as he wished. He was in power in Taiwan for 10 years and died of illness in January 1988.
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