Li Zongren and Chiang Kai-shek were both famous military figures in China's history, and the two once stood on the same front and advanced and retreated together, and once became brothers in worship. However, in the subsequent political struggle, Li Zongren began to oppose Chiang Kai-shek, and Chiang Kai-shek gradually could not tolerate this former friend. The two had a grudge for decades, until they later turned against each other.
After the fall of Yuan Shikai. Forces in various places have been divided up by local warlords, and the situation in the country is chaotic and factional. Chiang Kai-shek, the later head of the Nationalist government, wanted to put the "Gui" warlord Li Zongren to death, which is quite rare in history. So what deep hatred does Chiang Kai-shek have against him? Today Xiaobian will talk to you about the enmity and resentment between them.
Chiang Kai-shek and Li Zongren
First, the first assassination
In Chiang Kai-shek's political career, there were many periods of lows. The first time he was forced to resign was in August 1927, during the National Revolution.
Because the interests of the Wang Jingwei clique and the Chiang Kai-shek clique could not be unified, political views could not be compatible, and at the same time, there was also a serious struggle between various factions among the warlords. Finally, in early August, the Kuomintang Wang Jingwei clique, together with Li Zongren, the head of the New Gui clan, Feng Yuxiang, who had a heavy army, and He Yingqin, a subordinate of Chiang Kai-shek who had been instigated, persecuted Chiang Kai-shek.
Chiang Kai-shek saw that the momentum was not good, and at the same time felt that his own forces were not strong enough, and he thought that he should taoguang and cultivate obscurity, so he adopted the strategy of temporarily avoiding the front. On the 13th of the same month, he resigned as commander-in-chief of the National Revolutionary Army to the National Government in Nanjing.
After the reunification of the whole country in 1928, because Wang Jingwei failed to achieve his goal and was also forced by the pressure of "Fengzhi", he asked Chiang Kai-shek to return to China to resume his post. Chiang Kai-shek adopted a strategy of taking retreat as an advance, reaping the benefits of the fishermen under the competition of forces from all sides, and finally won the supreme leadership of the Kuomintang.
At this time, Chiang Kai-shek deeply felt the importance of cultivating his own forces in the previous struggles, and at the same time he also felt the threat of warlord forces to him. In particular, at present, the heads of several group armies, such as Yan Xishan, Li Zongren, Feng Yuxiang, and so on. Chiang Kai-shek decided to weaken their strength first. In early 1929, Chiang Kai-shek held a dispatch meeting.
Because he deliberately targeted the currently powerful army group. Ignoring the forces it controls. Such a blatant weakening of the warlords was met with unanimous opposition and fierce confrontation by other warlords, and the meeting was full of gunpowder and finally dispersed.
The Gui warlord Li Zongren
Chiang Kai-shek saw that the battle of wits could not be carried out and decided to carry out armed purges. Through planning, the Chiang Kai-shek clique unanimously agreed that Li Zongren should be attacked first. Because the main force of the Fourth Army led by Li Zongren was stationed in Wuhan, closest to Nanjing, the greatest threat, and at the same time, Li Zongren also participated in the "forced palace" operation against Chiang Kai-shek at that time, and Chiang Kai-shek believed that it should be eliminated first in public and private.
After Li Zongren received this news, he deeply felt that things were not good. He was well aware of Chiang Kai-shek's personality, and this matter would certainly become an excuse for Chiang Kai-shek to take revenge on himself. So he put on makeup and fled to Shanghai overnight with his adjutants. Sure enough, not long after they left, He Yingqin immediately visited many times, and Mrs. Li prevaricated.
After unsuccessfully searching for Li Zongren, Chiang Kai-shek framed Li Zongren for rebellion, and at the same time personally commanded the army to attack and attack Wuhan, determined to find Li Zongren. Li Zongren and his lieutenants went all the way to the China Hotel in Shanghai, and after getting rid of the secret agents' tracking, they took the waiting car and went straight to the special wharf of the Shanghai Municipal Government on the riverside and left Shanghai by mail ship. On March 25, 1929, Li Zongren traveled to Hong Kong, Guangzhou, and finally returned to Guangxi. In the thrilling escape, he escaped Chiang Kai-shek's first pursuit.
Li Zongren
Second, the second assassination
Fast forward to March 1948, when the Nationalist government was about to elect the president and vice president of the Republic of China, Li Zongren decided to run for vice president of the Republic of China.
Since Li Zongren returned to Guangxi, he had long been in confrontation with Chiang Kai-shek, and Guangxi also maintained a semi-independent state. Although Chiang Kai-shek once said: "Comrades in the Party are free to run for election." But this time Li Zongren decided to participate in the election, and the new Gui clan was full of opposition, believing that Chiang Kai-shek would definitely not let him be elected, but would be targeted, but Li Zongren insisted on running.
After Li Zongren and his party arrived in Nanjing, Chiang Kai-shek personally interviewed him. Li Zongren strongly opposed Chiang Kai-shek's campaign demand to be "nominated by the party." Chiang Kai-shek saw that he could not persuade him, so he found Sun Ke, the eldest son of Sun Yat-sen, and wanted to use Sun Ke's special status to defeat Li Zongren, plus Chiang Kai-shek's right-handers, Zhang Qun and others, and the number of candidates for vice president had reached 6.
On April 23, 1948, after three rounds of voting, Although Li Zongren had the lead in the votes, he failed to reach the required number of votes and was not elected. In the final election, only Sun Ke and Li Zongren were left to conduct the election, and whoever had the most votes was elected. Although Chiang Kai-shek went around canvassing for Sun Ke's votes, In the end, Li Zongren successfully ran for vice president by 143 votes ahead of Sun Ke.
When running for vice president, Li Zongren and Sun Ke
Annoyed, Chiang Kai-shek decided to assassinate Li Zongren again after Li Zongren was elected vice president.
He demanded that Shen Drunk take charge, and made a request to him: "To complete the mission absolutely, if Li Zongren leaves the city of Nanjing, he can be killed without asking for instructions." ”
After Mao Renfeng and Shen Drunk studied, they decided to divide the soldiers into two ways. Shen Drunk and his party were responsible for the assassination, and the other people and horses were responsible for monitoring and preventing Li Zongren from escaping. However, on January 20, 1949, Mao Renfeng suddenly ordered the cancellation of the operation.
It turned out that just the day before Chiang Kai-shek left the field, Chiang Kai-shek had to face reality. Due to the defeat in the war, the Chiang family dynasty was crumbling, and in the midst of internal and external troubles, cooperation with the Chinese communists was already a fact that had to be faced, and the most suitable candidate for contact with the communists was Li Zongren.
In this way, Chiang Kai-shek's assassination plan disappeared into invisibility when it was about to be implemented, and the second assassination operation was also declared over.
Third, the third assassination
In November 1949, Li Zongren went to the United States to recuperate and stayed in the United States after his recovery, but Li Zongren cared about the country, cared about the development of the country, and eagerly wanted the country to participate in the construction of the motherland, and Premier Zhou also welcomed him many times.
In June 1965, Li Zongren's early secretary, Cheng Siyuan, came to Zurich on orders from Premier Zhou to welcome Li Zongren and his wife back to China. On July 11, Siyuan suddenly received an order from his superiors that he must leave before the 13th, and the situation was very urgent.
At 14:00 on the same day, Li Zongren and his party immediately flew away. When the plane arrived at the Beirut airport, our embassy in the local area was suddenly informed of urgent news: Chiang Kai-shek might carry out assassination operations in order to prevent Li Zongren from returning to China.
In a later investigation, it was discovered that Chiang Kai-shek had secretly ordered Li Zongren and his party to be killed in the waiting room after Li Zongren arrived at karachi airport. On July 13, Li Zongren's plane landed at Karachi Airport, they disembarked, and according to the prior plan, did not enter the departure hall, but were led by Pakistani police to leave immediately in a car.
On the way, our ambassador at the Embassy in Pakistan told Li Zongren: "I have come to greet you on the orders of Premier Zhou, and Chiang Kai-shek's agents have been ambushed in the waiting hall. So the agent arranged by Chiang Kai-shek watched all the passengers leave in the waiting hall, and did not find Li Zongren and his party, and Chiang Kai-shek was busy again.
On the night of July 17, our embassy personnel arranged for Li Zongren, his wife Guo Dejie, and Cheng Siyuan to leave in two cars. Our embassy personnel had filled two cars in advance, pulled the curtains back, and sped out to the left of the embassy, where a small blue car that had been on the street corner for a long time immediately followed.
Li Zongren and his wife Guo Dejie
After waiting for them to leave for a while, Li Zongren and others, escorted by our embassy personnel, detoured to Karachi International Airport. After a few days of wandering, at 8:00 a.m. on July 18, the plane landed smoothly at Guangzhou Baiyun Airport. Li Zongren and his party successfully returned to China under our careful arrangements, and Chiang Kai-shek's third assassination plan was declared a complete failure.
Fourth, grace and resentment
If we now look back at these grievances between Chiang Kai-shek and Li Zongren, we can see that they are nothing more than a contest for power. When there is a common interest, two people are intimately like brothers, and when there is a disagreement, they take the other's life. Even if the two people have reached the age of old age, Chiang Kai-shek is still unwilling to let go of this former friend, which shows that Chiang Kai-shek's heart is fierce.
When it comes to Li Zongren's attitude toward Chiang Kai-shek, it is much better. When the Xi'an Incident occurred that year, Chiang Kai-shek was put under house arrest, and many people at that time advocated killing Chiang Kai-shek to avoid future troubles. However, at that time, Li Zongren did not take this opportunity to get rid of Chiang Kai-shek, and also advocated agreeing with the Chinese Communists' opinion of releasing Chiang Kai-shek. Also on the eve of liberation, when Chiang Kai-shek was in Guangzhou, when his strength was in a very weak stage, Li Zongren's subordinates suggested that Chiang Kai-shek be arrested. To tell the truth, it may be easier to arrest Chiang Kai-shek at this time than it was when the Xi'an Incident occurred. But Li Zongren still refused, and Li Zongren only laughed at the later complaints of his subordinates.
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