One morning at the end of April 1927, at the gate of the 35th Army Headquarters in Hankou, several open trucks suddenly drove up. At this time, the army's troops were basically stationed in Hanyang, Hanyang, as a reserve force for the Northern Expedition, but the military headquarters was located in Hankou, Hankou, a relatively prosperous city.
At that time, the development of the three towns in Wuhan was very unbalanced. Hankou had asphalt roads, running water, electric lights and more bungalows. Especially the foreign concessions near the river looked like Western cities, with millions of people in the town. It is an important commercial port in Central China.
Wuchang is an area where the government is concentrated. The National Government and the Hubei Provincial Government are all located there. The neighborhood still has the layout of an old Chinese city, with few modern facilities and a population of only a few hundred thousand. Hanyang is even smaller, the size of a county town, with a population of only 20,000 to 30,000. Except for the iron factory and arsenal, there are almost no modern facilities, and the town is even more shabby.
Therefore, people who have some money in Wuhan go to Hankou to buy houses so that they can enjoy modern life.
On that day, the front of the 35th Army Department was heavily guarded. Soldiers with live ammunition drove away pedestrians and vendors, and then surrounded the general headquarters, prohibiting anyone from getting close to the area.
After about a few hours, several small cars and escort vehicles arrived one after another. He Jian, commander of the 35th Army, and Ye Qi, deputy commander , were already standing in front of the command department to greet them.
Those who got off several cars were all military dignitaries in Wuhan, but there was no Commander Ye Ting of the 24th Division.
The dignitaries who came are:
Commander of the Eighth Army and Commander of the Wuhan Garrison Li Pinxian;
Xia Douyin, Commander of the 14th Independent Division;
Deputy Commander of the 36th Army and Chairman of the Hunan Provincial GovernmentZhou Lan ;
Commander of the 15th Army Liu Zuolong .
After greeting each other, He Jian and Ye Qi invited the guests into the headquarters, then sent away the guards in front of the door and ordered that no one be allowed to enter the headquarters.
He Jian carefully selected the participants for this meeting. After finding out the attitude of his subordinates a few days ago, He Jian attempted to give the Communist Party a blow in Wuhan.
He asked the chief of staff to organize a group of thugs, mainly plainclothes soldiers, to disrupt a workers' rally in Hanyang. However, as soon as these gangsters took action, they were quickly dispersed by the workers' pickets responsible for maintaining order at the venue, and the conference continued as usual.
Some thugs were even caught and sent to the Wuhan picket team for interrogation, and they confessed that they were members of the 35th Army. He Jian hurriedly asked someone to come forward to express that this was the soldier's personal behavior.
After this failure, He Jian and his staff felt that relying solely on this kind of stealing method could only vent temporary anger at most, but would not achieve "big things" in the end. Therefore, they decided to abandon this method and directly launch a military coup to completely eliminate the Communist Party and extinguish the worker and peasant movement. But to carry out the "big event" of launching a military coup, He Jian knew very well that relying solely on the strength of the 35th Army was far from enough.
At that time, Ye Ting's troops of the Fourth Army did not go to the front line of the Northern Expedition , but were stationed in Wuchang. There were also 5,000 workers' pickets in the three towns of Wuhan, and the 4,000 students of the Central Military Academy were also known as "the pure sons and grandchildren." His own troops were transferred to Henan, and it was hard for Tang Shengzhi to disobey and refuse to leave.
Taking this into consideration, He Jian took advantage of the opportunity when Tang Shengzhi went to the front line in Henan to invite some senior generals of the Northern Expeditionary Army stationed near Wuhan to a gathering of the 35th Army in Hanyang to plot a military rebellion plan to purge the party and fight against the Communists.
Tang Shengzhi
After the guests sat down one after another, Ye Qi looked around and said: "The military commander invited everyone here today to discuss important matters, which are related to the fate of the party and the country, so we have stepped up our guard. I hope you will be considerate."
On the surface, the major event concerning the fate of the party and the country at this moment should be the Northern Expedition. Since we are discussing this matter, why should we make it so secretive?
Of course, due to common political feelings, some visitors still understood the mystery, but under the circumstances at that time, they wanted others to reveal it first.
Ye Qi simply asked directly: "What do you think of the recent workers' and peasants' movement led by the Communist Party?"
As soon as he said this sentence, it immediately resonated with the visitors - "It turns out that Commander He was referring to the Communist Party members. The instigating workers’ and peasants’ movement!”
Xia Douyin, commander of the 14th Independent Division, started with the first shot. He is from Macheng, Hubei, and graduated from Hubei Military Academy . Although this person was not from Hunan, the peasant movement in Macheng was the most intense in Hubei Province, and his family was affected. As soon as the peasant movement was mentioned, Xia Douyin was filled with hatred, and he couldn't bear to curse the lawless practices of these poor people. Then he said that the relatives and friends in his hometown were almost finished suppressing them.
Ye Qi saw that Xia Douyin had expressed his attitude, and continued, "People from our commander's hometown have been complaining a lot these days, saying that the poor people in their hometown are forcing them to die. Think about it, think about it. If this continues, who are we fighting for in the revolution?"
Xia Douyin immediately said: "If we continue like this, the top will ignore it, and we will only rebel below."
He Jian instigated Ye Qi to express his attitude, and Xia Douyin responded. However, Li Pinxian, Zhou Lan, Liu Zuolong and others present at the meeting remained silent. Compared with He Jian, Li and Tuesday had a much closer relationship with Tang Shengzhi, and they may have been unwilling to express their opinions behind the back of their superiors. Liu Zuolong, on the other hand, only "surrendered" to the Beiyang warlord last year. He is an outsider and it is inconvenient for him to disclose his political opinions.
Li Pinxian, Zhou Lan and others were reluctant to express their stance publicly right away. In addition to considering Tang Shengzhi, they were also afraid of being blamed by the government. At that time, Wuhan was the center of the National Revolution and was known as the "Red Capital".
Li Pinxian
Moreover, the Northern Expedition is still in progress, and the true attitude of the upper echelons of the Kuomintang in Wuhan towards the Communist Party and the workers' and peasants movement is unclear. Therefore, He Jian's anti-communist conspiracies in the past could only be carried out by senior staff around him and those who had personal relationships with him. A small number of senior officers at the corps and division levels were engaged in secret activities. This is the first time that he has shown his trump cards to the generals of friendly neighboring troops.
He Jian actually knew quite a bit about the senior generals invited this time, and had already asked his cronies to find out their political attitudes through many inquiries. Li Pinxian, Zhou Lan and others, like He Jian, harbor extreme fear and hatred for the Communist Party and the workers' and peasants' movement; on the other hand, they are all figures with real power. If they are willing to openly or covertly support He Jian's military rebellion plan, then the mutiny will basically be completed.
Seeing that Li Pinxian and others did not express their stance, He Jian had no choice but to say bluntly: "The Communist Party not only leads those idle scoundrels to divide the land and cause labor unrest, causing chaos in urban and rural order, but also attempts to capture the army."
"Didn't the Communist Party make it clear that it would not build an independent military?" Li Pinxian asked deliberately.
He Jian heard this and immediately claimed that the Communist Party took advantage of this loophole. Although they use the banner of joint revolution and say they will not build an army, they are poaching us everywhere.
Ye Qi then added: "Although the Communist Party has not openly opposed us, it has continued to expand its influence through the workers' and peasants' movement. We are fighting in the front, but they are leading the farmers in the rear to steal our grain and divide our land. If you come here to win people's hearts, doesn't this count as poaching us?" After hearing this, Li Pinxian and Zhou Lan finally showed their approval. Xia Douyinze got up and cursed the Communist Party again. Ye Qi then told the attendees about a so-called conspiracy they had heard about, saying: "The Communist Party has stated that it will not engage in independent armed forces, but they organize workers' pickets in cities, transform militia groups in rural areas, and form peasant self-defense armies. In fact, they wanted to seize the gun in their own hands, and they also tried to seize our army. "
Peasant Self-Defense Army
" In February of this year, Commander He had a long talk with Wang Yongji, and finally they got it. The intentions of the Communist Party have been clarified."
Li Pinxian, Xia Douyin and others all know that Wang Yongji is a member of the Communist Party of China and now serves as the director of the Political Department of the 35th Army.
Ye Qi went on to say: "During the conversation, Commander He deliberately talked about how to carry the revolution to the end and how to integrate the army with workers and peasants. These words really deceived Wang Yongji. After listening to what the military commander said, he started talking about how the Communist Party should lead workers and peasants to carry out movements to transform society, and also transform our army into an army of the people. Isn’t that equivalent to becoming an army of the Communist Party? ".
"Yes! Yes! When I heard these words, I couldn't help but feel creepy." He Jian confirmed from the side.
Xia Douyin immediately incited and said, "If these communist elements are not eliminated, we will be eliminated by them sooner or later."
The army is the lifeblood of warlords. It is not a big deal for the Communist Party to go to the army to do political work. If they poach their military power, it will be fatal. These words made Li Pinxian and Zhou Lan somewhat moved after hearing this, and they continued to rebuke the Communist Party.
After they said something anti-communist, they immediately had to show off their cards and proposed "to eliminate the influence of the Communist Party through force, otherwise there will be endless troubles."
At that time, only Xia Douyin actively expressed support, while Li and Zhou still did not make their stance clear. Liu Zuolong said it depends on what they meant, and he was obviously swinging between the two sides.
After He Jian pressed him repeatedly, Li Pinxian finally said: "Commander He's suggestion is good, but I don't know what Commander Tang will do?"
"The Commander-in-Chief is the same as us in private. He has always treated Communist Party members and The workers’ and peasants’ movement is deeply abhorred,” Ye Qi quickly comforted.
"In this case, wouldn't it be better for us to discuss the incident after asking Commander-in-Chief Tang for instructions?" Li Pinxian clung to Ye Qi's words.
"Commander Tang is far away in Henan. If we wait for news about him, I'm afraid we will have already gone to the front line in Henan. Why are we talking about saving the party and the country?" Xia Douyin saw that Li Pinxian was still hesitant and couldn't help but said sarcastically.
"It would be best to get Commander-in-Chief Tang's consent, but in the current situation, Communist Party members are all over the government and the military. If the news is revealed, I'm afraid they will all be regarded as chaos before you and I can start an uprising. The army has been wiped out!" At this time, Zhou Lan, who had remained silent, agreed.
Obviously, he had a different attitude from Li Pinxian and agreed to start the rebellion behind Tang Shengzhi's back. This Zhou Lan is also a reactionary with a strong anti-communist consciousness, but he is very good at disguise. He always sings Three People's Principles in public and advocates mobilizing the people, so most people think he is a revolutionary.
For this reason, after Tang Shengzhi left, the Wuhan National Government asked him to act as the chairman of the Hunan Provincial Government. He did not go to Henan with the troops, and the CCP was not wary of him.
Liu Zuolong said at this time that if everyone agreed to the uprising, he could mobilize his troops from eastern Hubei to participate in the struggle against communism. Li Pinxian found that the generals who came with him today all agreed with He Jian's opinions. Of course, he did not want to be mistaken for supporting the Communist Party and be isolated, so he reluctantly agreed to the uprising.
He Jian and Xia Douyin reached an agreement as soon as they met, and both advocated taking action in Wuhan immediately. However, the main force of the local garrison was Li Pinxian's Eighth Army. Li also was the commander of the Wuhan garrison. Without Li's consent, nothing could be done. But when it came to discussing specific issues, Li Pinxian started to have difficulties again.
He said that the power of the Communist Party in Wuhan was too strong. In addition to the Wuhan workers' picket team , Ye Ting's troops were stationed in Wuchang. If something breaks out here, it may be difficult to solve the problem for a while, and the outcome is unpredictable. If a stalemate is reached by then, and Tang Shengzhi is blamed again, and the Nationalist Government in Wuhan listens to the Communist Party's instigation and transfers the Northern Expeditionary Army from the Henan front line to carry out the crusade, I am afraid that everyone will not be able to escape the disaster.
When Li Pinxian complained about the difficulty, Liu Zuolong also retreated, saying that without the consent of the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government, it would not be possible to mobilize troops without authorization.
Although the discussion reached a consensus on anti-communism, there was no consensus on launching a coup. He Jian and Ye Qi finally expressed that if Wuhan failed, they would choose to start in Hunan. In fact, this was another case they made before convening these guys for a meeting.
Ye Qi also explained: "From here, on the one hand, the Communist Party does not have any regular armed forces in Hunan, we can quickly eliminate these elements who are rebellious to the party and the country, and deal a heavy blow to the Communist Party; on the other hand, we can avoid the national If the government intervenes too early, it can also be used to test the attitude of the National Government and other senior generals, while we can sit back and watch."
Xia Douyin agreed to this proposal on the spot, and Li Pinxian, Zhou Lan, and Liu Zuolong also agreed. He Jian then agreed with them that if the operation in Hunan went smoothly, Xia Douyin would respond to the uprising in southeast of Hubei, and Li Pinxian and Liu Zuolong would stage the uprising in Wuhan to achieve the "great cause of clearing the party and anti-communism" of "two lakes jointly taking action".
The warlords all have their own secrets. Later history proved that after the Hankou conspiracy, they did not follow the agreement. Xia Douyin himself contacted Chiang Kai-shek and colluded with the Sichuan warlords to launch a rebellion in western Hubei. Li Pinxian still followed the advice of the old chief Tang Shengzhi and stood still for a while. Liu Zuolong, who was accustomed to following the wind, originally wanted to respond to Xia Douyin, but when he saw Li Pinxian's attitude, he withdrew his head.
Although the anti-communist coup in Wuhan was not completed, He Jian stepped up the arrangement of the subsequent bloody " May Day Incident" in Hunan through his subordinates...
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