Some people call him Chiang Kai-shek's "Guo Jia", and some people call him a contemporary "Zhuge Liang" - a fledgling, a "master table",
He helped Chiang Kai-shek successfully "cut down the domain" and unify the country:
Li Zongren was resolved by military means, Feng Yuxiang was divided by economic means, Yan Xishan was dealt with by political means, and Zhang Xueliang was brought in by diplomatic means.
He vigorously advocated that "the outside must first be inside", and the strategy of "three points of military and seven points of politics" forced the Red Army to embark on the Long March.
The "high man" behind Chiang Kai-shek is named Yang Yongtai, a guangdong Mao celebrity, and at the age of 17, Yang Yongtai was admitted to Xiucai.
Chiang Kai-shek and Yang Yongtai
He defected to the Beiyang warlords, followed Sun Yat-sen, joined the southwestern warlords, and finally defected to Chiang Kai-shek.
Many people in the Kuomintang admired Yang Yongtai's talent, but they also despised Yang Yongtai's personality very much, believing that he was politically unreliable and a typical opportunist.
However, Chiang Kai-shek's allies Huang Hao and Xiong Shihui greatly appreciated Yang Yongtai and recommended him to Chiang Kai-shek together.
After the Northern Expedition, Chiang Kai-shek began to consider the issue of "unifying the country and the mountains," but warlords in various places were also Chiang Kai-shek's biggest headache.
As soon as Yang Yongtai "came out of the mountain," he presented Chiang Kai-shek with a "master's table" and easily solved this problem.
This is Yang Yongtai's strategy of "cutting the domain".
In accordance with Yang Yongtai's suggestion, Chiang Kai-shek first adopted the strategy of "transferring the tiger away from the mountain" and summoned Feng Yuxiang, Yan Xishan, Li Zongren, and others to Nanjing, planning to raise and surrender them to the light and remove the military power.
Chiang Kai-shek appointed Feng Yuxiang as vice president of the Executive Yuan and minister of the Military and Political Affairs Department, Yan Xishan as chairman of the Mongolian and Tibetan Committee and minister of the Interior, and Li Zongren as president of the Military Senate.
Chiang Kai-shek then implemented the second plan offered by Yang Yongtai - to convene a dispatch meeting, "a glass of wine to release the military power."
However, the outcome of the dispatch meeting was unexpected by Chiang Kai-shek, and the "princes" of all walks of life were extremely sensitive to the word "reduction of troops", and the meeting ended without a problem.
If one counts, another will be born. Yang Yongtai suggested to Chiang Kai-shek: Use military means to first subdue Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi of the Gui clan.
At that time, the Gui clan controlled the thousand-mile-long front between Guangxi and Shanhaiguan, how to defeat Li and Bai, the "one-word long snake array"?
Yang Yongtai offered a plan to Chiang Kai-shek: first strike the snake's head, then cut off the snake's tail, and use both force and politics.
Chiang Kai-shek acted according to his plan, he first put Li Jishen under house arrest, then asked Chen Mingshu and Chen Jitang to take over the baton in Guangdong, and then sent Tang Shengzhi to Tianjin with a huge amount of money to persuade his old subordinate Li Pinxian to turn against Gui, and the old Chiang kai-shek forced Bai Chongxi to flee in a hurry without a single soldier.
Old photos
Then, Chiang Kai-shek personally led a large army to attack Wuhan, and Yang Yongtai secretly came to Hong Kong, relying on his three-inch tongue to persuade Yu Zuobai, who was not at odds with the Gui clan, to come forward to instigate Li Mingrui and Yang Tenghui to overthrow Gui.
As a result, as soon as the two armies of Jiang and Gui exchanged fire, Li Mingrui, the former commander-in-chief of the Gui army, broke away from the battle, and the Gui army was completely defeated.
Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi were forced to retreat to Guangxi, and Chiang Kai-shek led various armies to exert pressure on all sides, and Li and Bai could only flee to Hong Kong.
In this way, Yang Yongtai assisted Chiang Kai-shek in first pacifying the Gui clan.
Against Feng Yuxiang, Chiang Kai-shek followed Yang Yongtai's strategy and instead used economic means to disintegrate Feng Yuxiang's army.
Chiang Kai-shek sent "special envoys" to use the "silver" of white flowers and the promise of the oath to pull Feng Yuxiang's subordinates Han Fuyu and Shi Yousan into the water, and five days later, Feng Yuxiang was forced to announce his resignation.
Yang Yongtai's plan was tried and tested, and Chiang Kai-shek was overjoyed.
In March 1930, Lu Zhonglin, Shang Zhen, Bai Chongxi, Zhang Fakui and 57 other generals sent a telegram to the whole country, jointly electing Yan Xishan as the commander-in-chief of the army, navy and air force, and jointly overthrowing Chiang Kai-shek.
Chiang Kai-shek was furious and thunderous, but Yang Yongtai was very calm, and he confidently presented chiang kai-shek with a plan:
It adopted the coordinated tactics of land and air to deter the coalition forces; continued to adopt the "silver bullet" tactic to disintegrate the Northwest Army; and went all out to win over the Northeast Army, which held a wait-and-see attitude.
Five months later, the Northeast Army fell to Chiang Kai-shek, Yan Xishan took refuge in Dalian, Feng Yuxiang moved to Fenyang, and the Northwest Army, which had been painstakingly operating for more than 20 years, collapsed.
Chiang Kai-shek completed the great cause of "cutting the domain" in less than 3 years, and Yang Yongtai "made indispensable contributions."
As for how to suppress the CCP, Chiang Kai-shek's "confidant trouble," Yang Yongtai also offered Chiang Kai-shek a "brilliant plan."
At that time, Chiang Kai-shek pacified all the princes, hesitated and full of ambition, and raised troops to attack the revolutionary base areas led by the Chinese Communists, but the Kuomintang army was defeated one after another after three times of "suppressing the Communists."
Chiang Kai-shek and the "Second Chen"
Yang Yongtai presented Chiang Kai-shek with a "Book of Ten Thousand Words", the core content of which was twofold:
The so-called "inside" must be "inside", "the first priority should be to suppress the CCP";
The strategy of "suppressing the communists" - three points military, seven points political.
Chiang Kai-shek greatly appreciated Yang Yongtai's "Book of Ten Thousand Words" and promoted Yang Yongtai to secretary general of the Eyu-Anhui "Suppression of the Communists" Headquarters.
Since then, Yang Yongtai has officially moved from the backstage to the "front desk" and become the "chief" military division in front of Chiang Kai-shek's tent.
In the battle to "encircle and suppress" the Eyu-Anhui Soviet region, Yang Yongtai's strategy really worked.
The Red Army did not adjust its strategy and tactics in time, and was forced to retreat westward and withdraw from the Eyu-Anhui base area.
Chiang Kai-shek was even more obedient to Yang Yongtai, and he immediately went to Jiangxi in person and commanded the Kuomintang army to "encircle and suppress" the Central Soviet Region with all his might.
In the fifth "encirclement and suppression" campaign, Chiang Kai-shek mobilized 500,000 heavy troops, because he adopted the strategy of "three points of military and seven points of politics", and Xue Yue's bunker tactics complemented each other, the Red Army suffered heavy casualties, had to withdraw from the Soviet zone, and began an unprecedented and incomparably tragic long march.
Of course, the reason for the defeat of the Red Army was not the only one, at that time, the command of the Red Army was in the hands of "foreign advisers", and mechanical, dogmatic, unrealistic, and so on, were all fatal mistakes.
However, Yang Yongtai, because of his meritorious service in "suppressing the Communist Party," became an alternate member of the Fifth Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang.
In dealing with the Red Army, Chiang Kai-shek was not soft-hearted, and he was also ruthless in dealing with the local warlords who "occupied land as king."
While "encircling and suppressing" the Red Army, Chiang Kai-shek "beat rabbits with grass in his arms" and took Sichuan, the "country of heavenly capital."
At the end of 1934, the Kuomintang army followed the main force of the Red Army in the Long March into the southwest.
Yang Yongtai knew that Chiang Kai-shek had long been "salivating" over Sichuan, and he wasted no time in offering a plan: in the name of pursuing and suppressing the Red Army, he sent the Central Army to Sichuan.
Liu Xiang, known as the "Ba Gecko", is a powerful faction in Sichuan, and he has always been wary of Chiang Kai-shek's involvement in Sichuan.
Liu Xiang
Therefore, Liu Xiang actively organized forces and vigorously encircled and suppressed the Red Army, but was met with a stubborn counterattack by the Red Army, and the Sichuan Army lost soldiers and generals.
Liu Xiang ran to Nanjing to ask for help, which was exactly in the hands of Chiang Kai-shek, who immediately expressed his position - sending 10 divisions of the Central Army into Sichuan immediately.
Unexpectedly, Liu Xiang wanted money, guns, and artillery, that is, he did not want the Central Army to enter Sichuan.
At this time, Yang Yongtai offered a plan: "You can give money, give ordnance, or you can not send troops, but you must make a request and send a staff committee to assist the Sichuan Army in combat." ”
Liu Xiang didn't know what the plan was, and agreed to it.
Therefore, He Guoguang led the staff group into Sichuan, and then began to "overturn the river and the sea."
According to Yang Yongtai's plan, the staff committee made the first move, and it was happy to spoil Liu Xiang.
They helped Liu Xiang form the Sichuan Provincial Government and unify the military and political management of Sichuan, and Liu Xiang sat on the "first chair" in Sichuan, and naturally he was overjoyed.
Yang Yongtai offered another plan: to redefine the Administrative Special Office and appoint commissioners from the provincial government.
Liu Xiang did not expect that these commissioners were all pro-Jiang people arranged by Yang Yongtai and He Guoguang, and on this plan, Yang and He had captured all the local officials in Sichuan Province.
Subsequently, Yang Yongtai resorted to the strategy of "killing chickens and making monkeys" and began to "establish a will" in Sichuan, and they dismissed Tian Songyao, the general of the Sichuan Army, from his post on the grounds of "ineffective combat with the Red Army."
Oil painting Long March of the Red Army
Next, Yang Yongtai began to "change soup and change medicine", the staff committee in Sichuan was changed to Chongqing Xingying, Chiang Kai-shek personally served as the director of the camp, and Yang Yongtai became the secretary general and director of the second department.
At this time, Liu Xiang was completely passive, and he was remorseful, but he couldn't help himself.
Yang Yongtai's plan did not stop there, and he offered Chiang Kai-shek a plan - to open an officer training corps to reorganize and control the officers of the Sichuan Army.
In July 1935, Chiang Kai-shek's self-appointed officer training regiment was opened in Mount Emei, Sichuan, and Deputy Regiment Commander Chen Cheng and Yang Yongtai joined forces to make a wish for these Sichuan army officers and do their best to win over and divide them.
Before the training regiment was over, a large number of Sichuan army generals fell to Chiang Kai-shek's side.
Seeing that the fire had arrived, Yang Yongtai offered his last plan - to carry out the "reorganization of Chuankang" and realize the "nationalization of the Sichuan Army and the centralization of sichuan politics".
At this point, Liu Xiang regretted it too late.
In this way, under the meticulous planning of Yang Yongtai, Chiang Kai-shek firmly controlled Sichuan.
Yang Yongtai also rose from a politician living in the wilderness to become Chiang Kai-shek's "chief think tank."
Although Yang Yongtai is resourceful, he is relatively naïve politically, and he has the wisdom of "strategizing" but lacks political vision.
Perhaps it is "pampered and proud", Yang Yongtai has unlimited scenery and is favored by Chiang Kai-shek, but he intentionally or unintentionally offended the cc system, which is also prominent.
There is a saying in the Kuomintang -- "The Chen Family Party in the World of the Chiang Family", but Yang Yongtai does not take the Chen Family Brothers seriously.
In June 1934, a fire broke out at Nanchang Airport, destroying more than 10 bombers in a single fire.
In the course of the investigation, the CC faction tried to cover up the truth, and Yang Yongtai chased after it to the death, and the truth came out, which was a major arson case, and the main culprit was Xu Peigen, the director of the Aviation Administration.
Yang Yongtai completely angered the CC department and forced the CC system to the "root of the wall".
Chen Guofu gritted his teeth in hatred, and he proposed to "qing jun side" and made up his mind to destroy Yang Yongtai.
Between Yang Yongtai and the CC Department, Chiang Kai-shek chose the strategy of "each hitting one blow, making big things small, and small things small", and in order to balance the interests of various factions, Chiang Kai-shek decided to transfer Yang Yongtai to Hubei and serve as the chairman of Hubei Province.
However, this move was fiercely opposed by the CC faction, who incited the public and provoked students to march in the streets to oppose Yang Yongtai's appointment to Wuhan.
Chiang Kai-shek was furious when he heard the news, and in order to support Yang Yongtai, Chiang Kai-shek did not hesitate to open a knife against Er Chen, which frightened the CC elements of the Hubei Provincial Party Department.
It was under such circumstances that Yang Yongtai left Nanjing and went up the river.
Yang Yongtai claimed to be able to "predict the prophet", but he never dreamed that once he left Chiang Kai-shek's protection, he would not be far from the end.
On October 25, 1936, yang Yongtai attended a banquet and was preparing to take a boat back to Wuchang when an assassin suddenly opened fire, and Yang Yongtai fell to the ground.
Outside must first be inside
Yang Yongtai left only one sentence before swallowing: "I knew that there would be today..." Yang Yongtai was 56 years old.
As for who assassinated Yang Yongtai, there have always been different theories, some people say that it was directed by Liu Luyin, a close confidant of Hu Hanmin and the propaganda minister of the Kuomintang; some say that it was a retaliatory action of the "Revival Society."
More people said that this was planned by the CC department, but Liu Luyin was made a scapegoat.
Yang Yongtai gave advice to Chiang Kai-shek, and was deeply valued by Chiang Kai-shek, but he became the ghost of the gun of the Kuomintang factional struggle, which made Chiang Kai-shek regret for many years.
Until he was defeated and retreated to the island of Taiwan, Chiang Kai-shek still remembered Yang Yongtai: "Yang Yongtai is not dead, I may not come to Taiwan." ”
Is this really the case?
Chiang Kai-shek may have reflected or regretted it, but history cannot go backwards, and there is not so much "maybe."