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After the Liaoshen Campaign in 1948, more than 500,000 elite Kuomintang troops were annihilated, including the New 1st Army and the New 6th Army, which were the five main forces.
In all battlefields throughout the country, the Kuomintang army lost its troops, and the kuomintang troops were wiped out in groups, and the military defeat was accompanied by the economic collapse of the Kuomintang-ruled areas and political passivity.
This has caused chiang kai-shek's good friend and the US decision-maker, who is also Chiang Kai-shek's master, to gradually lose confidence in him, and the advanced weapons and equipment aided by the US military have become the booty of the Chinese communists, and the Chinese communist army has also exchanged shotguns for artillery, becoming a force to be reckoned with.
The United States is a profit-seeking country, and their investment in Chiang Kai-shek can be said to be lost, which has forced US policymakers to re-examine their China policy.
Although many people in the US government have been very clearly aware that the CCP's victory in China is a foregone conclusion, due to ideological influences, they are just unwilling to admit such a fact, and they still fantasize that one day there will be some "new situation" in the Kuomintang, thus "reversing the tide" miracle.
However, for the sake of face, the United States refused to admit their strategic misjudgment, they said that their strategy was right, but they only chose the wrong agent, and in the end they put the responsibility on Chiang Kai-shek. Americans believe that Chiang Kai-shek's personal abilities led to the total defeat of the Kuomintang in China.
Therefore, the Americans insisted that the Kuomintang could still rule China, but there was a precondition, that is, the Kuomintang could not be led by Chiang Kai-shek, and others must be elected to run the Kuomintang.
Another reason why the Americans chose Li Zongren was that Chiang Kai-shek's elite troops were annihilated, while the Gui troops were relatively well preserved and occupied the southwestern half of the country.
The first to express great disappointment in Chiang Kai-shek was the US ambassador to China, Stuart Layden.
As early as October 23, 1948, Stuart Laidon made a proposal to U.S. Secretary of State Marshall to advise Chairman Chiang kai-shek to retire and give way to Lee Zong-jen or other promising political leaders in the Kuomintang.
Stuart Leiden wanted to directly oust Chiang Kai-shek from power by means of a quick knife, but Marshall, who had more political experience, believed that since Chiang Kai-shek was already the leader of the Kuomintang, this was enough to prove his ability, and Li Zongren had been in a weak position in the long-term struggle with Chiang Kai-shek, and it was unlikely that he would replace Chiang Kai-shek with Li Zongren.
Because of this, Marshall replied to Stuart Redden:
"The U.S. government cannot assert itself in the position of advising Chairman Chiang Kai-shek to retire or recommending any Chinese as head of state of the Chinese government." If such an opinion is provided, it is held accountable for the new situation that has arisen, which naturally makes the United States government necessary to support the inherited regime, regardless of the vital interests of the United States."
Although Marshall politely declined Stuart's suggestion, there were many people who held Stuart's ideas.
In mid-November 1948, a few days after the end of the Liaoshen Campaign, Situ Leiden personally visited Li Zongren late one night.
After Situ Leiden entered the door, he signaled to Li Zongren that his visit was very confidential, and he wanted to have a secret conversation with Li Zongren, and Li Zongren immediately asked all the attendants to retreat, leaving only him and Situ Leiden in the room.
Li Zongren has always been vice president, has always been suppressed by Chiang Kai-shek, so the presidential throne has a great temptation for him, Li Zongren wants to be president is not - two days ago, he has long learned that Stuart Redden intends to help himself to the throne.
As for Situ Leiden's attitude, Li Zongren knew everything about yesterday, and now when he saw him visiting late at night, he already had an eight or nine points in his heart, and when there were only two people left in the room, Li Zongren graciously held Situ Leiden's big hands that were bulging and drumming, and thanked the ambassador warmly for his late-night visit.
As soon as Situ Leiden saw Li Zongren's attitude, he immediately talked with Li Zongren about the strategic situation at that time, mainly talking about the collapse of the Kuomintang and the internal crisis within the Kuomintang.
Li Zongren followed Situ Lei's words and expressed his deep concern about the situation.
At the same time, Li Zongren from time to time showed the strength of the Gui clan, he boasted that he still had 500,000 men and horses under his command, and occupied the southwest half of the country, he could mobilize millions of young and middle-aged people to join the army in a short period of time, as long as the United States provided weapons and equipment, his strength was enough to compete with the CCP.
Situ Lei's old treacherous giant, seeing that Li Zongren was so urgent, he actually sold GuanZi instead, and this time Li Zongren really couldn't help it, he cleared his throat and said in a tone of worry about the country and the people:
"Mr. Jiang's situation to this state is not entirely his own mistake, the reason is very complicated, but if he still insists on walking alone, it is not right, it can only be a dead end."
Stuart Leiden nodded, and Li Zongren continued:
"If Mr. Chiang kai-shek can leave his post before the current military defeat is complete, and he can gain the unequivocal support of your government, then with the strong support of the southwest region, I still have full confidence to contain the Communist Party in the area north of the Yangtze River."
Stuart Leiden's late-night visit was Li Zongren's words, and he knew that the more urgent a person's desire, the more motivated he was to do good things.
Stuart Nodded with satisfaction and said:
"Mr. Li is assured that I will actively seek your support at home to ensure the stability of the Nationalist government's dominance in China."
Regarding the news of Situ Leiden's visit to Li Zongren at night, the Secrecy Bureau of the Ministry of National Defense quickly reported this news to Chiang Kai-shek, and Li Zongren did not know that the Secrecy Bureau had arranged eyeliner around and around him, and his every move was under the surveillance of the Secrecy Bureau.
Chiang Kai-shek was most jealous of his political opponents and the Americans, and Chiang Kai-shek developed with the support of the United States.
Chiang Kai-shek was originally quite jealous of Li Zongren, and with the changes in the strategic situation, Li Zongren even contradicted him, and now the US ambassador took the initiative to find Li Zongren, and Chiang Kai-shek's intuition was that the Americans wanted to support Li Zongren instead of himself, which made him immediately kill.
However, li zongren is after all in a high position of authority in the Kuomintang, or the vice president of the Kuomintang, it is not difficult to kill Li Zongren, the difficulty is to achieve seamlessness, so Chiang Kai-shek decided to use an ace killer to carry out this task, this ace killer is one of the four major killers of the military command.
Shen Drunk was then the director of the Yunnan Station of the Secret Bureau of the Kuomintang Ministry of National Defense; after receiving an urgent telegram from Mao Renfeng, director of the Secret Service Bureau, "immediately go to Nanjing to accept a new task," he did not dare to delay, simply nodded his luggage and set off.
"Chenglu" is specially designed for the heads of the central command bureau, the gendarmerie command, the second department of the Ministry of National Defense, and other secret service organs for meetings, and occasionally entertains the heads of US secret services, which is a very high-end guest house.
Shen Intoxicated, who lived in "Chenglu", realized that this time the mission was extraordinary, and an important reason for allowing himself to live in "Chenglu" was for the need for secrecy.
Just an hour after Shen Wasrui stayed, Mao Renfeng, director of the Secret Bureau, came to the guest house and gave him an important task, that is, to assassinate Li Zongren.
Mao Renfeng only talked to him for a few words, and then took him directly to Chiang Kai-shek's official residence.
As the two unconsciously talked, the car was already carrying them to Chiang Kai-shek's official residence at the Central Military Academy on Huangpu Road.
Officials large and small within the Kuomintang knew that Chiang Kai-shek liked to call himself a "principal," so everyone was accustomed to calling it the "principal's residence," and Chiang Kai-shek himself gave it a nickname: The House of Rest.
In Chiang Kai-shek's official residence, Mao Renfeng and Shen Drunk waited for more than two hours before Chiang Kai-shek took the time to meet them.
In the living room, Chiang Kai-shek withdrew from the attendants and asked them to sit down and talk to them alone, and Chiang Kai-shek gently inquired about Shen Drunk's work at Yunnan Station and his family situation, and Shen Drunk answered one by one.
Suddenly, Chiang Kai-shek's words changed sharply, and he boasted that the Communist Party would be defeated sooner or later, but at present the greatest danger in the Kuomintang came from Li Zongren, because Li Zongren and the Americans got involved.
At present, only by getting rid of Li Zongren can the internal forces be united, and once Li Zongren gains power, they will die without a place to die.
Chiang Kai-shek said it with a straight face, saying that the stakes were high, so he let Shen Drunk come to Nanjing to carry out this task, and demanded that Shen Drunk not divulge even a little secret to the outside world, and once he decided to act, he would absolutely complete the mission.
Shen Drunk immediately said that he would successfully complete the tasks assigned by Chiang Kai-shek, Chiang Kai-shek has always liked his subordinates to pat their chests to express their determination, he was very satisfied with Shen Drunk's words of allegiance, and finally he looked at Shen Drunk and said to Mao Renfeng:
"This is our most loyal and courageous comrade, and if he has any difficulties in his work and life, you must do your best to help solve them." Mao Renfeng listened and nodded his head and said yes.
On the morning of the second day when Shen Drunk accepted the task, he went to the Secrecy Bureau, and for the sake of secrecy, Mao Renfeng only consulted with Pan Qiwu, director of the bureau's office, and Ye Xiangzhi, director of the operations department, to discuss the action plan.
They set up a "task force" to do so, and the assassination plan was divided into four scenarios:
The first was assassination in the city of Nanjing. At that time, Li Zongren was living behind Fu Hougang in Nanjing, and after reconnaissance, the agents found that the car he was riding in was very slow when entering and exiting the corner, and it was very confident to shoot from both sides at the same time.
Second, if Li Zongren suddenly left Nanjing by plane, the secret agents would report in code language, and then Mao Renfeng would inform the Air Force to destroy Li's landplane in the air with prepared fighter jets and claim to the outside world that it was a "plane crash."
In order to prevent Li Zongren from leaving Nanjing for Anhui by train, the agents bought a small wooden house near Jiangnan Station and sent people to set up cigarette stalls in order to monitor their movements and assassinate them before getting on the train.
Fourth, on the highway to Hangzhou, the special operations group also sent two people to open a small restaurant to serve as a surveillance worker, and as soon as they found li Zongren leaving in a car, they immediately assassinated him.
All assassination operations have three elements, one is intelligence support, the other is a powerful killer, and the third is a means of transportation.
In terms of intelligence support, in order to monitor Li Zongren's activities, the agents opened an old book stall at the corner of the road leading to his residence, and the secret agent Wu Dehou dressed as the stall owner could cover the investigation on the one hand, and on the other hand, he could also serve as a meeting point for the secret agents.
In addition, the secret agents also set up other surveillance sites to grasp Li Zongren's every move.
In the choice of killers, there are mainly two people who cooperate with Shen Drunk, one is called Qin Jingchuan, this person has been working as a murderer in the military detention center, has a hand of a hundred steps through Yang's marksmanship, and his hands are stained with blood.
Another killer was named Wang Hanwen, a well-known bandit in the northeast who had been engaged in murderous and transgressive activities since childhood, and could shoot down birds flying in the sky with a pistol.
The main person in charge, Shen Drunk, is also a famous sharpshooter.
At that time, Shen Drunk, Qin Jingchuan and Wang Hanwen all prepared two pistols, and the bullets were injected with fierce poison, as long as they hit any part of the body, they could cause blood poisoning and death.
In terms of transportation, Mao Renfeng specially allocated two of the fastest cars of the Special Operations Group, and if Li Zongren left Nanjing by train or car, it could be used to chase and intercept and block halfway.
Because of the importance of the matter, Chiang Kai-shek was also very cautious, and he secretly ordered the Special Operations Group:
"If an assassination is carried out outside nanjing, there is no need to wait for my orders, and if you do it in nanjing, you must wait for my final decision."
In fact, Chiang Kai-shek still didn't know much about Li Zongren, Li Zongren was bent on becoming president, how could he leave Nanjing at this critical moment!
And Li Zongren did not know Chiang Kai-shek very well, he knew nothing about Chiang Kai-shek's secret orders, of course, he did not increase his defenses, and the vigilance work under his hands was even more confused.
The Secrecy Bureau opened a tavern for surveillance purposes at the opposite door of Li Zongren's residence, and Li Zongren's guards did not even notice it, and came to this tavern all day to drink and chat, which made it easier for the spies to monitor Li Zongren.
While Chiang Kai-shek was preparing for assassination, he was also looking for americans early on, and Chiang Kai-shek sent a letter to US President Harry S. Truman.
In this letter, Chiang Kai-shek demanded that the United States increase its aid and support itself politically, publicly issuing a statement of support for the Nationalist government.
Militarily, Chiang Kai-shek demanded that the United States send high-ranking officers to direct command "operations with the communists" in order to "boost the morale of the army and the people and consolidate the position of the government."
Chiang Kai-shek's idea is too naïve, on the China issue, the United States and the Soviet Union have long been agreed, if the United States sends commanders directly into the war, it will likely cause a conflict with the Soviet Union, which the United States does not want to see.
The day after receiving the letter in the United States, Truman rejected it in reply.
Chiang Kai-shek knew that if the Americans did not support him, he would be even more passive, so he sent his wife, Soong Mei Ling, to the United States to lobby and beg for help, and the result was still the same.
Chiang Kai-shek knows that he has been abandoned by the United States, and now he is facing strong pressure from the People's Liberation Army; if Li Zongren is killed, there will certainly be Liu Zongren, Zhu Zongren, and so on.
At this time, his staff suggested that the situation was irreparable anyway, so why not use Li Zongren as a shield and let Li Zongren negotiate with the CHINESE Communists.
And personnel power, economic rights and other aspects are in his own hands, Li Zongren is just a puppet, he can't turn over any flowers, why don't he retreat into the future, let Li Zongren, a puppet, negotiate!
To this end, Chiang Kai-shek decided to explore Li Zongren's bottom.
Jiang Shi cordially received Li Zongren, one by one, and called Li Zongren to the heart. Chiang Kai-shek said to him sincerely:
"Neighbors, the situation between the party and the state has become so, and it is not appropriate to pursue responsibility now, and the peace talks between the communist parties must be done by you." I haven't been in good health lately, and I'm ready to go into the wilderness, so you have to pick up your burden, and for the sake of the prime minister's legacy, you must work hard. ”
At this time, Li Zongren also had no scruples, and he actually said without any hesitation:
"Whether Mr. Jiang takes a break, DeLin naturally has to work hard."
The huge glass window blocked the cold outside, and sprinkled the warm winter sun indoors, shining The bald head of Chiang Kai-shek without a hair shone brightly, of course, the sunlight also shone on Li Zongren's face, Chiang Kai-shek saw his red face, and between his eyebrows was an undisguised excitement and joy.
Chiang Kai-shek couldn't help but secretly scold in his heart:
"Niang Xipi, you are not even polite, if you want to be president, I will let you be enough!"
Chiang Kai-shek was scheming, and although he scolded in his heart, his mouth was very sincere:
"De Lin, I am not only resting, I may have to retire at home in the future, and you also know about the affairs in the party. I mean you're the current president first, and when the relationship is straightened out, I'll formally hand over power. ”
Chiang Kai-shek's simple words surprised Li Zongren, who naively thought that Chiang Kai-shek would happily hand over the presidential throne to himself, but he did not expect that he was actually just an agent. ”
Li Zongren murmured, "What, Acting President! ”
But before he could finish speaking, Chiang Kai-shek added:
"De Lin, help the horse and send it to Cheng, you must understand my good intentions."
Li Zongren secretly scolded Chiang Kai-shek for being a traitor and a giant, but he knew that he still needed Chiang Kai-shek's support to become president, and he was afraid that the relationship would be too stiff, and even the acting president would not become a president, so he had to go on his own.
Li Zongren thought with hatred in his heart, let's take the place of the president, this position of president can still fly.
In this way, Li Zongren organized people and horses to negotiate with the Chinese Communists in his capacity as acting president, but in fact, Chiang Kai-shek had the final say.
On the one hand, Chiang Kai-shek used Li Zongren to negotiate with the Chinese Communists; on the other hand, he also saw what tricks Li Zongren came up with, and the Support of the Americans for Li Zongren was only tendentious and did not make any substantive moves.
Since Li Zongren was not a threat, Chiang Kai-shek did not care, and he finally canceled the top-secret operation to assassinate Li Zongren.
The US ambassador visited Li Zongren late at night, and Chiang Kai-shek used an ace killer to prepare to assassinate Li Zongren, which reflected the insurmountable internal contradictions within the KMT, which was an important reason for the kmt's disintegration.
On the other hand, it also shows that Chiang Kai-shek is keen on secret service politics and uses assassination methods to deal with political enemies, which is also an important reason why Chiang Kai-shek is difficult to convince the public.
Under favorable circumstances, the internal contradictions within the Kuomintang can also be covered up, and once the situation is unfavorable, under strong external pressure, the Kuomintang will not only fail to unite as one, but will accelerate its collapse.
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