After the End of the Battle of Songhu, the Nationalist government had to seriously consider the defense of the capital. And Japan also quickly set its sights on Nanjing, the importance of Nanjing is self-evident, if not defensive and directly abandon, it is obviously unwise. Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek appointed Tang Shengzhi as the commander of the capital garrison and deployed the defense of Nanjing, but the result was still failure, followed by the inhumane Nanjing Massacre.
Who is Tang Shengzhi? Maybe many people are not familiar with him. He was not a close confidant of Chiang Kai-shek and opposed Chiang Kai-shek several times. Although the qualifications are sufficient, at such a critical moment, is he the right person in Chiang Kai-shek's heart?
Tang Shengzhi was a Warlord of Hunan who had left the army since the Great War of the Central Plains. What distinguished him from Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi, and others was that he did not have his own concubine troops. Although he was also in a high position, he did not have military power, and before the start of the Defense of Nanjing, he was the director of the training director department and the executive director of military law.
In fact, before the Battle of Songhu was over, the Nationalist government was already considering the defense of Nanjing. As for whether Nanjing is guarded or protected, internal opinions are not unified.
At that time, it was generally believed that Nanjing should be evacuated quickly and used as an undefended city. Because from the geographical conditions, Nanjing cannot be defended. Chiang Kai-shek knew this in his heart, but he was not willing to give it up directly, after all, it was the capital, and once he gave up the capital, the political impact was immeasurable. For the people of the whole country, I am afraid that there is no way to explain what people think if they flee without a fight.
But how to keep? I am afraid that the best way is to be short-term, but it is absolutely not to send a small number of troops to symbolically defend as Liu Fei and others suggested, and this will not benefit anyone at all.
So since it was decided to keep for a short time, who to send? In fact, this candidate is not so difficult. With so many concubines of Chiang Kai-shek in the Huangpu department, is there no suitable candidate? Don't say that you are not qualified enough, too young, this is just a pretext. This can only mean that Chiang Kai-shek had no intention of sending his so-called cronies, and he also knew that it would be a defeat.
Other veteran generals were not willing to wade through this muddy water, especially Li Zongren and others themselves did not agree to defend. It was impossible to count on him to come.
From Tang Shengzhi's memories, it is not difficult for us to find that in fact, he was put there. He was indeed the main warrior faction and advocated holding on to Nanjing. But according to him, it was Chiang Kai-shek who found him and said directly, either you keep it or I keep it.
If so, how do you answer that? Therefore, Tang Shengzhi chose the usual approach, which had to be kept by himself. But ordinary people don't know, the people in the army should know that although Tang Sheng's wisdom and qualifications are enough, but he has been idle for so long, is it really suitable to come in handy at this time?
Besides, did Chiang Kai-shek not know that it was very difficult for Tang Shengzhi to command the army guarding Nanjing, so why did he send him at the crucial moment? In fact, to put it bluntly, who to choose is not the key, the key is that as long as you can keep it for a period of time, it is enough.