In the Great War of the Central Plains, what secret weapon did Chiang Kai-shek rely on to defeat the masses and unify the world?

Qiaobu "time bomb"

The Outbreak of the Central Plains War in 1930 has always been considered by scholars to be a continuation of Chiang Kai-shek's efforts to cut off local forces and consolidate central rule after the Northern Expedition. As early as a year before the outbreak of the Central Plains War, Chiang Kai-shek had already made a meticulous layout, and Han Fuyu, Shi Yousan and Liu Mao'en were the key figures among them.

Han Fuyu and Shi Yousanben were Feng Yuxiang's old subordinates and belonged to the "Thirteen Taibao" members that Feng relied on most, but they became increasingly disgusted by Feng's usual paternalistic style. All this was seen by Chiang Kai-shek, the former commander-in-chief of the Northern Expedition.

In the spring of 1929, the Jiang-Gui War broke out. At that time, Jiang Gui and Gui formed a confrontation in the Wuhan area, and both sent representatives to meet Feng Yuxiang, ask for military assistance, and promised the chairman of the Two Lakes Province and the president of the Executive Yuan of the National Government. Feng Sui sent Han Fuyu as the commander-in-chief, and led Shi You's third-class army of 130,000 troops to the south to enter Wushengguan. Unexpectedly, the Gui army was quickly defeated, and the Northwest Army was declared over before the Battle of Wuhan, and Feng Yuxiang did not gain any benefits.

However, Feng Yuxiang's second general Han Shi was favored. When Chiang Kai-shek rewarded the three armies in Wuhan, he sent someone to send 100,000 oceans to Han Fuyu to reward the whole army, and specially sent representatives to invite Han Wuhan to meet. After Han arrived in Wuhan, Jiang sent a check for 1 million yuan. After that, Han rebelled against Feng and the idea of surrendering to Jiang gradually arose. Chiang Kai-shek also sent someone to send 500,000 yuan in cash to Shi Yousan to show his condolences, and Shi immediately called back to thank him and expressed his deep support for the central authorities. In this way, Jiang planted two "time bombs" next to Feng Yuxiang.

Sure enough, in May 1929, when the Jiang-Feng War broke out, Han Fuyu took the lead in opposing Feng, took the 20th Division of the Northwest Army with himself, and entangled shi Yousan's 24th Division and Ma Hongkui, Tian Jinkai and other troops of nearly 100,000 people, attacked the Northwest Army, and retreated to Zhengzhou after the defeat. After the war began in October 1930, when the Yan-Feng coalition army was in a disadvantageous situation, the generals of the Northwest Army followed the example of Han Shi and surrendered under chiang Kai-shek's "Golden Yuan" attack, and in only one month, the huge Northwest Army was wiped out.

The third "time bomb" is Liu Mao'en. During the Battle of the Central Plains, Liu Mao'en was the commander of the 15th Army of the Jin Army in Yan Xishan's department, and was under the control of Yang Xiao'ou, the commander-in-chief of the 3rd Route Army of the Longhai Front of the Jin Army, and mainly attacked Guide (present-day Shangqiu, Henan) and other places. In January 1930, Jiang sent Liu Mao'en's younger brother, Liu Maoxiu, a major general of the Nanjing government, to Shanxi, bringing a large amount of cash and materials to show his condolences and actively encouraging Liu Mao'en's troops to join Jiang.

On May 20, 1930, Liu Mao'en led his troops to defect, and the balance of power on the battlefield was instantly broken, and Jiang Jun took the opportunity to counterattack, and the balance of victory in the Central Plains was then tilted towards Jiang Jun.

"Alternative" tactics are never-too-bad

The Central Plains War lasted nearly 7 months, and the main battles were concentrated in the three major aspects of the Pinghan Line, the Longhai Line and the Jinpu Line.

Throughout the course of the war, although Chiang Kai-shek's army had the legal status of a Nationalist army, for most of the time, it was in a passive situation of being beaten, and even on the verge of collapse several times. What is surprising is that Chiang Kai-shek wantonly sealed officials and rewarded money, and in the end he was desperate.

Zhang Xiao, an important member of the Feng Yuxiang faction, was the former director of the Henan Provincial Construction Department when the Central Plains War broke out, and hosted the disaster relief and relief of the people. During this period, he was jealous of Feng because he opposed Feng Yuxiang and Chiang Kai-shek, and accused the Northwest Army of corrupt military discipline, and was forced to flee. Because he had many old units in the Northwest Army and was familiar with the internal situation of the Northwest Army, Chiang Kai-shek was about to take Zhang for his own use and entrusted him with a heavy responsibility.

In May 1930, Jiang Jun and Yan Feng began large-scale contacts, and Sun Diancai, commander-in-chief of the 3rd Route Army of the coalition army, led his troops to occupy Anhui Haozhou, controlling the two major strategic passages of Jinpu and Longhai, directly threatening the left and right flanks of Jiang's army, causing Jiang's army to be unable to move in the two directions of Longhai and Jinpu. On the one hand, Jiang sent heavy troops to besiege him, and on the other hand, he sent Zhang Xiao to persuade him to surrender. Zhang relied on his own prestige, plus Chiang Kai-shek's promise of 500,000 yuan, which lasted nearly 40 days, and finally prompted Sun to make up his mind to surrender. Although Sun Diancai attempted to surrender due to the urgent rush of Sun Lianzhong's troops, from then on, the threat hanging on the flank of Chiang Kai-shek's army was lifted, and Chiang Kai-shek successfully recaptured Jinan, reversing the decline on the battlefield in Shandong in one fell swoop.

Yan Xishan was shocked, and quickly reached a tacit understanding with Feng and jointly launched the August offensive. Yan counterattacked in Shandong, and Feng mobilized a large army to pounce on Guide. Chiang Kai-shek, who was lucky enough to get a chance to breathe, mobilized reinforcements to help the battle, and at the same time invited Zhang Xiao again to seek good advice.

Zhang immediately asked Jiang Duo to prepare large sums of money and bullets for his free disposal, and after arriving at Luohe, he carried out various activities in the name of organizing the Henan Provincial Government Office, and with his three inches of uncorrupted tongue, in just two weeks, nearly 100,000 people from Li Wanlin, Wang Diange, Li Wanru, Fan Longzhang, Zhao Guanying, Zhang Zhigong, Wang Zhen, and other troops left Feng feng in front of the front and marched to the safe zone, and the outskirts of the Northwest Army completely collapsed. More seriously, the momentum of the frontal defection also began to waver in the main force of the Northwest Army.

Taking advantage of the situation, Zhang Xiao took advantage of the fierce attack and took Sun Liangcheng's troops, which Feng Yuxiang praised as the "Iron Army" of the Northwest Army, and the Northwest Army was suddenly in chaos. Liang Guanying, Jiao Dianwen, Ge Yunlong, Pang Bingxun, and a dozen other generals surrendered one after another, and the huge Northwest Army became a ragtag group overnight, resulting in luoyang, Kaifeng and other important military towns falling into the hands of Jiang Jun.

Wooing Zhang Xueliang to win the final victory

Before the outbreak of the Central Plains War, Chiang Kai-shek's Central Army and Yan Feng's combined army fought north and south, but Zhang Xueliang led the Northeast Army to stand alone outside Guanwai. As far as the warring sides are concerned, whoever can win Zhang Xueliang has a decisive advantage.

In February 1930, before the Central Plains War, Jiang had sent He Chengjun, Fang Benren, Liu Yuan, and other military and political figures who had certain relations with the Northeast Army to Shenyang to meet with Zhang Xueliang. These deputies were holding silver dollars, and wherever Zhang Xueliang went, these deputies used money to "mean" wherever they went, dotting up and down, softening Zhang Xueliang's psychological defense line on the one hand, and exploring the true attitude of the Northeast Army up and down on the other.

In early August 1930, Zhang Xueliang finally opened his mouth after careful consideration and reached an agreement with Wu Tiecheng that he could send troops after Jiang Jun recaptured Jinan. Jiang also allocated Zhang 10 million yuan to sort out the tickets and repay the railway foreign debt, and promised that the salaries and silver of the troops stationed in Pingjin after the Northeast Army entered the customs would be borne by the central authorities. On September 13, when Zhang's wife Yu Fengzhi hosted the Liaoxi Flood Relief Conference in Shenyang, Jiang also quietly wired 200,000 yuan, which flattered Zhang Xueliang.

While giving a lot of money and benefits, Chiang Kai-shek did not hesitate to give Zhang Xueliang real power. Zhang Xueliang was successively appointed deputy commander of the army, navy, and air force, and promised Zhang Xueliang that "all matters in Beiping will be entrusted to Han Qing with full authority" and "the military affairs on the north bank of the Yellow River will be entrusted to Han Qing with full authority." All organs directly under the Pingjin Central Committee were sent by Zhang Xueliang to take over first, and he stubbornly turned a "tubawang" outside the northeast Pass into the "Emperor Taishang" of the north.

On September 18, Zhang Xueliang passed on the pass, completely changing the pattern of the Central Plains War, causing the Yanfeng coalition army, which was under great pressure, to collapse in an instant.

Compared with Jiang's generosity, Yan Feng and the two are too small and childish. At that time, Yan's representative in Fengtian, Jia Jingde, only had 1,000 yuan in cash, and Feng's representative Xue Dubi was only 500 yuan, and the two were almost penniless except for personal food and accommodation expenses