On the night of November 30, 1948, the Bund was empty, but as night fell, porters appeared in the streets. They were constantly entering and exiting the Bank of China, which was controlled by the Kuomintang at that time, only to see that wooden boxes that looked very heavy were being carried to the docks.
At this time, not far away, a pair of eyes were staring at them and saw the whole process! With a keen sense of professional smell, he discovered a major event and released news to the outside world overnight, alarming all the Chinese people. And this is exactly Chiang Kai-shek's plan! His elaborate plan was still exposed, but he could not care about his face, and he was anxiously preparing the plan to escape!
What exactly is in this batch of wooden boxes? Where will they be smuggled? What is the purpose of all these things? Why did the transport of this thing precisely doom Chiang Kai-shek's demise?
What exactly did Chiang Kai-shek take away before he fled?
In November 1948, the Battle of Huaihai had not yet been won or lost, but Chiang Kai-shek's defeat was already evident. With the mentality of "a gentleman takes revenge, ten years is not too late", Chiang Kai-shek decided to go to Taiwan to start a new stove!
In fact, Chiang Kai-shek has always been very concerned about Taiwan, and before that, he sent people to Taiwan to establish an army, manage Taiwan, build Taiwan's military, use Taiwan as a secret stronghold, and plan a retreat for himself long ago.
With Chiang Kai-shek's defeat set, he had a plan in mind, and this plan was bound to cause panic. He had to consider transporting all his resources to Taiwan to facilitate the comeback.
So that night, Chiang Kai-shek ordered 774 boxes to be secretly transported to Taiwan, and these boxes contained pure gold, some people say that it was as high as 240 million taels.
But it was all witnessed by a British journalist who was staying in a hotel room next to the Bank of China. He knew it was a big deal, so he immediately sent a telegram to London.
The smuggling of gold by the Kuomintang government and the central bank became the headlines at that time, and the people of the whole country knew that the gold of the Chinese people was being smuggled in the most traditional way.
Why? In the history of modern Chinese money, there is a currency called the Golden Yuan Coupon, which has been in circulation for a very short time. It was released on August 19, 1948 and ceased circulation in July 1949.
The issuance of gold yuan coupons was forced, and at that time, in order to issue gold yuan coupons, the people's gold was forcibly purchased by the people. Through semi-coercive means, the people were made to hand over their private gold. To put it mildly, this is looting and looting!
After learning of the Kuomintang's midnight gold shipment, the crusades throughout the country became more and more fierce, but these gold were owned by the people of the whole country, so how could they move at will?
The common people are very afraid that their gold will be taken away, and they are very afraid that all the gold in the bank will be hollowed out. At that time, the people on the streets of Shanghai were panicked, so the Bund became a sea of people, and the people rushed into the bank!
Tens of thousands of people are rushing to exchange gold, the citizens have lost control of their emotions, after all, their hard-earned money will be wiped out, they are desperate to pour into the bank, a variety of stampede accidents in a time, and this is the death of seven people, the injury of 57 people gold run tragedy.
However, Chiang Kai-shek had no time to take care of it, and they did not care at all what the common people thought. Immediately after the massacre, the Nationalist government announced the cessation of the policy of exchanging gold yuan coupons for shanghai citizens. At this point, the gate has been closed and re-entered the state of blockade, and the last hope of the people is gone!
However, the nationalist front line collapsed, the people inside were panicked, and Chiang Kai-shek was about to go to the field. But he did not have time to pay attention to the crusade of the people, and accelerated the pace of transporting gold.
On January 10, 1949, Chiang Kai-shek asked his son Chiang Ching-kuo to return to Shanghai as quickly as possible, and then discussed where the gold should be transported next.
In Chiang Ching-kuo's diary, on February 10, most of the gold had been transferred to safety, leaving only 200,000 gold in Shanghai.
On April 23, when the Nationalist government had no way out, Chiang Kai-shek and Tang Enbo cooperated to transfer all the money of the central bank to Taiwan, and since then, the central bank has been empty.
Their very short circulation process also caused great harm to the people in the National Unification Area! Although the issuance of gold coupons solved their financial difficulties, it caused the people to collapse.
First of all, the gold yuan coupon replaces the original uncontrollable legal tender, one yuan gold yuan coupon, which is converted into a legal currency of 3 million yuan. It is also stipulated that private individuals cannot hold gold, silver, or foreign currency. At that time, if there were any such items, they had to be exchanged for gold coupons, and it was forbidden to use them for circulation and trading.
If any disobedients were confiscated and severely punished, no one dared to disobey them, so they could only obediently exchange them for gold coupons, and at that time it was impossible to negotiate.
The release of the gold coupons made Chiang Kai-shek's wallet expand instantly, because this was all the result of looting the wealth of the people at the bottom. The urban petty bourgeoisie and national bourgeoisie who originally trusted Chiang Kai-shek were tragically pit by Chiang Kai-shek for a while. Originally, the life was still relatively moist, and all the assets evaporated at once, after all, the gold coupons were useless.
Countless people went bankrupt, lost their families, and became proletarians, and Chiang Kai-shek became their enemy.
What did Chiang Kai-shek do by smuggling this batch of gold to Taiwan?
In December 1949, Chiang Kai-shek, who had fallen into a swamp, had to move the government to Taipei. At that time, the chaotic economy of the mainland in the later period had spread here, the wounds of the war had not yet had time to heal, and Chiang Kai-shek was facing a Taiwan with economic collapse and people's poverty.
In order to stabilize Taiwan's economy, the Kuomintang learned the lesson of gold coupons on the mainland and officially issued new Taiwan dollars.
Not only that, but in order to win the trust of others, they let the people have confidence in the New Taiwan dollar. The Kuomintang announced that the total amount of new currency issued would never exceed 200 million yuan, and that it would also pay gold with interest when it was due.
In this way, although it has won the trust of the people, it has also lost a lot of gold reserves. Many people say that it is by smuggling millions of taels of gold smuggled to Taiwan that the economy has stabilized and the new currency reform has been successful.
On the other hand, even though the desperate Nationalists settled in Taiwan, they still controlled several cities on the mainland.
It is just that all military and political affairs need Taiwan's support, so in order to gain Taiwan's support, the Kuomintang can only use this batch of gold just shipped from the mainland to promote reform and economic construction. It can be seen that Taiwan's ability to quickly recover its economy after the war is very much related to the gold that old Chiang Kai-shek was dizzy.
At the beginning, Chiang Kai-shek wanted to use this gold to stabilize the army, maintain a huge army expenditure and strengthen the army, waiting for the opportunity to counterattack. And these millions of gold, Chiang Kai-shek supported hundreds of thousands of troops, and also maintained the military expenditure of personnel and several cities on the mainland!
In half a year, Chiang Kai-shek used gold as a guarantee to maintain the operation of more than 1 million soldiers and catholics.
It's just that Chiang Kai-shek always uses this batch of gold in his own way. He used the money to fund his cronies, study abroad, start a business, travel, expenses, etc., and simply became his own private treasury. This also made Chen Cheng, Yu Hongjun and others very dissatisfied, and they repeatedly proposed to Chiang Kai-shek that this batch of gold was not private property, so later this private small treasury was revoked.
At that time, the Kuomintang used a huge amount of gold to stabilize Taiwan's economy and support a huge army, and when it looked at the mainland, it had completely forgotten how this gold came from!
Many people's diary manuscripts and reports to Chiang Kai-shek have left clues about this matter.
This gold was used by Chiang Kai-shek to maintain his rule from both the military and economic aspects.
In the three years from the time the Kuomintang took over Taiwan to the time the Kuomintang fled, Taiwan's population increased by nearly 2 million.
It can be seen that in this chaotic world, whether it is gold or paper money, it is not important to be alive.
In June 1950, with the outbreak of the Korean War, Chiang Kai-shek, who was terrified, was put on the table again and became a useful pawn. He ushered in the economic assistance of the Old United States to Taiwan, and the total amount of aid even reached 1.5 billion US dollars.
Every year, Lao Mei will give 100 million US dollars in aid, so Taiwan, which was originally mainly based on agriculture, has rapidly developed industry and commerce and rapidly taken off.
Without Chiang Kai-shek bringing a large amount of gold to Taiwan, it would have stabilized Taiwan's economy and people's hearts, stabilized Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang's rule in Taiwan, and waited for the assistance of laos and the United States.
This gold may be a saving asset for the people of Taiwan, but it is all the hard-earned money of the mainland people. Chiang Kai-shek disregarded the people and only for personal power, causing countless people to ruin their homes and doomed his demise.
Why Chiang Kai-shek chose Taiwan
Some people wonder why Chiang Kai-shek chose to go to Taiwan. In fact, when Chiang Kai-shek's defeat was already decided, he began to choose a way to retreat for himself. At that time, Xikang, Hainan and Taiwan could all become his back roads.
However, Xi Kang's generals were accustomed to a life of drunken gold fans, and even if they had the power of the Kuomintang, they had no intention of fighting. Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek is likely to lose everything when he goes there, risk being betrayed by traitors, and live in fear for an indefinite time!
Some people say that Hainan is also an island, and he can stay in Hainan and continue to fight with our party. Just as in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, we retreated all the way to Chongqing, relied on the dangerous terrain to survive, and then counterattacked en masse when the time came. However, Hainan still has our party organization, and it may be difficult to sleep and eat when going to Hainan.
Moreover, At that time, Hainan was even poorer, and developing the economy there was still a very big test for Chiang Kai-shek. Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek's heart wants to have a place where he can attack and retreat.
Taiwan, on the other hand, was relatively safe, and when chiang kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling returned to the embrace of the motherland after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling went to Taiwan. He felt that this was still a pure land, and without our party, it could be built well and become a model province.
Moreover, the local political environment is not very strong, there are no forces opposing the Kuomintang, and the location is good, and the strait can be used as a barrier.
After all, at that time, our army did not have an air force and a navy, and it was impossible to threaten him. And that's the most important reason!
Of course, some people suggest going to Chongqing or Guangzhou to continue the struggle against the Plakmen. However, his secretary gave him an analysis that Taiwan is far from the mainland and can block the PLA's victorious pursuit. Moreover, Taiwan has a large area of arable land and sufficient grain, which can ensure the needs of the army. Moreover, Taiwan has convenient transportation and is easy to defend, and the oil level gauge can also be supported by lao Mei.
Moreover, after decades of Japanese rule, the Kuomintang will have a sense of belonging, so that the Kuomintang army can be well integrated into the local area. These remarks coincided with each other, and further determined Chiang Kai-shek's determination to retreat to Taiwan.
Moreover, Li Zongren believed that Chiang Kai-shek's stay would only affect the negotiations, and it was better to leave the interior quickly. And Chiang Kai-shek is also very afraid of death, and he can do it if he wants me to go down, but he must not ask me to die.
In the end, faced with the situation of defeat and death, after careful consideration, Chiang Kai-shek had no choice but to take Taiwan as his final destination, and successively moved the national treasures of the Forbidden City, the gold of the national treasury, and 2 million troops to Taiwan. In short, Chiang Kai-shek's move to Taiwan was the reason for the current situation environment, as well as security considerations, and the suggestions of his staff.
And Chiang Kai-shek sighed in his diary that this time was even more terrifying than the Tiger's Den, more dangerous than when the Xi'an Incident occurred, and his heart palpitated!
The significance of the transported gold to the continent
Chiang Ching-kuo once wrote in his book that every copper coin knocked out is blood, and the copper plate is blood, let alone gold. We are ashamed of this money.
Even Chiang Kai-shek himself believed that when they first came to Taiwan, if they had not made up for this batch of gold, the economic situation would have been unimaginable long ago, and how could there be such a stable situation as it is now?
Maybe gold changed the history of Taiwan and the history of the mainland. This batch of gold, this golden history of transportation and Taiwan, represents the blood and tears of the people on both sides of the strait in that era, and the Chinese nation really suffered because of this unpredictable situation.
Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang stood against the people and forced every people into the revolutionary queue. Even the urban petty bourgeoisie and the national bourgeoisie, which had once trusted Chiang Kai-shek, were abandoned by him.
No amount of gold can save the changes of an era, cannot buy the hearts and minds of the people of an era, and cannot resist the revolution of the people. Although the smuggled gold has made people panic and will kill the hearts of those who support Chiang Kai-shek, this is also Chiang Kai-shek's great contribution to our revolution.
Although chiang kai-shek could not have wanted to help our Party and did not want to push the people toward our Party, this is also a fact that cannot be changed. Who called him that there was no people in his heart at all?
The top brass of the Kuomintang are all bright and beautiful, while the people of our country have a bleak road ahead, shrinking their wallets again and again, and tightening their pants and belts to live. If animals are not fat, they have parasites in their stomachs, and if people are only industrious and not rich, they have too many vampires in them.
As we all know, as long as the gold that goes into the national treasury is equivalent to falling into Chiang Kai-shek's pocket, where is the people's half? The Kuomintang government has chilled the hearts of the common people, lost the hearts of the people Chinese, and lost the general trend.
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