On March 18, 1928, Li Zhilong, acting director of the Naval Bureau of the Nationalist Government in Guangzhou and a member of the Communist Party, received an order to transfer two ships from Baobi and Zhongshan to Huangpu the next day, and Li Zhilong obeyed the orders, and as a result, the next day the Zhongshan warship had just sailed to Huangpu, but Chiang Kai-shek denied the transfer of ships, and rumors spread for a while. This is the most famous Zhongshan ship incident in history.
It should be pointed out that since the first congress of the Chinese Kuomintang on January 20, 1924, when the Kuomintang-Communist cooperation was established, the contradictions between the two sides have never been interrupted until 1927, when Chiang Kai-shek launched the April 12 counter-revolutionary coup, marking the official bankruptcy of the first Kuomintang-Communist cooperation. Prompted our Party to build a people's army of its own.
In fact, just after the Zhongshan incident, the right wing of the Kuomintang led by Chiang Kai-shek intended to continue to expand and demanded that Zhou Enlai hand over the list of communists in the First Army, but Zhou Enlai refused on the grounds that he had to ask his superiors, although at that time There were Kuomintang elders such as Cheng Qian, Li Jishen, and other Kuomintang elders and leftists who expressed dissatisfaction with Chiang Kai-shek, and Mao Zedong and others also advocated being tough on Chiang, but this proposal was finally rejected. Chiang Kai-shek did as he wished, and all the communists in the First Army who were openly identified were purged. The Zhongshan ship incident came to an end.
Chiang Kai-shek also said afterwards: "If this matter is fully understood on March 20, it will not be made public until I am dead, taking my diary and the letter to the comrades to question them." It can be seen that it is full of conspiracy implications, but this incident has also greatly changed the fate of Li Zhilong, a communist party member.
Li Zhilong was born in 1897 in Duyao Village, Xiliuhe Town, Qiuyang County, Hubei Province, as a child from an ordinary peasant family, Li Zhilong was fortunate enough to have access to a very good education, which also laid a solid foundation for him to later move towards the revolutionary road, in 1912 Sun Yat-sen launched the "Second Revolution", only 16-year-old Li Zhilong went south to join Li Liejun's rebel army at Hukou, after the failure of the uprising, Li Zhilong returned to school to continue his studies, because he participated in anti-imperialist and anti-feudal revolutionary activities, Li Zhilong was expelled from school. Also because of the family's poverty, he had to interrupt his studies, and in 1916, Li Zhilong was admitted to the Yantai Naval School, determined to build a force for the Chinese Navy.
During his studies at the school, Li Zhilong gradually came into contact with the ideas of communism, and joined the Communist Party of China in 1921 under the introduction of Chen Tanqiu and Dong Biwu, because of his participation in the "February 7 Strike" of the workers' movement, Li Zhilong was wanted, and then went south to join the Chinese Kuomintang through the introduction of Tan Pingshan, and at this time, the first Kuomintang-Communist cooperation had been initially established, and Li Zhilong was transferred to Guangzhou and became the translation secretary of borodin, an adviser to the former Soviet Union.
In 1924, Li Zhilong was admitted to the first phase of Huangpu, and Chen Geng and Jiang Xianyun were at the same time, but the difference was that during Li Zhilong's study in Huangpu, his fame was much greater than that of Chen Geng and Jiang Xianyun of Huangpu Sanjie. In October 1925, Li Zhilong was transferred to the Political Department of the Naval Bureau of the Nationalist Government and the director of the Naval Staff Office, and was awarded the rank of major general. Li Zhilong also became the first person among Whampoa students to wear the rank of general.
In January 1926, the director of the Navy, Smilov, returned to China, li zhilong succeeded him as the director of the navy, and concurrently served as the captain of the Zhongshan ship, awarded the rank of lieutenant general, and the same rank as Chiang Kai-shek, the principal of the Whampoa Military Academy. Unfortunately, Li Zhilong withered prematurely, and after the Zhongshan Incident, Li Zhilong was relieved of all duties, and on April 14, Li Zhilong was transferred to the director of the new troupe of the General Political Department of the National Revolutionary Army.
However, the matter that caused controversy was that in the Zhongshan ship incident, Li Zhilong published a newspaper announcing his departure from the party, which had a great impact on him later. On May 18, 1926, the Guangzhou National Daily published "Li Zhilong's Notice": In order to avoid disputes and make a profitable work, I hereby solemnly declare my resignation from the Communist Party of China and all related social organizations, and with the simple qualification of a member of the Chinese Kuomintang, under the guidance of Mr. Chiang Kai-shek, in order to seek the realization of the Three People's Principles. Geng Geng was sincere in his heart, and he especially hoped that the Communist Comrades would forgive him.
That is, this notice greatly affected the later development of Li Zhilong, after the Zhongshan ship incident, Li Zhilong continued to engage in revolutionary activities, especially after the start of the Northern Expedition, Li Zhilong wanted to continue to return to the party organization, but was rejected by Chen Duxiu and Zhang Guotao, after Chiang Kai-shek's April 12 counter-revolutionary coup, Li Zhilong also angrily denounced the Zhongshan warship incident in the newspaper, after the confluence of Ning and Han, Li Zhilong secretly organized the New Navy Society, and engaged in military transportation work in the navy, and as a result, he went into exile in Japan after being exposed, and returned to China on February 6, 1928. As a result, he was found and arrested by agents in Hong Kong.
As the principal of the Whampoa Military Academy, Chiang Kai-shek still appreciated Li Zhilong very much, and before the April 12 coup, Chiang Kai-shek also wrote a letter to Li Zhilong, inviting him to go to Nanjing, but Li Zhilong was not moved, and after being arrested, Chiang Kai-shek immediately sent a report to Li Jishen in Guangzhou, asking for Li Zhilong to be extradited to Nanjing.
In 1951, Li Zhilong's widow Pan Huiqin and son Li Guangci applied to the Wuhan People's Government to posthumously recognize Li Zhilong as a martyr.
After receiving the application, the Wuhan People's Government attached great importance to it and specifically asked the superiors for instructions, and the Zhongnan Civil Affairs Bureau also reported the relevant incidents to Zhou Enlai and Dong Biwu, and Zhou Enlai and Dong Biwu made a situation explanation based on their own experiences, denying Li Zhilong's application as a martyr.
In addition to Li Zhilong's resignation from the party because he had published a statement in the newspaper, whether it was the arrest of Li Zhilong in the Zhongshan Ship Incident or the arrest and murder in Hong Kong, Li Zhilong's behavior had nothing to do with the activities of the party organization and had nothing to do with revolutionary activities.
Since Li Zhilong belonged to the early party members of our party and occupied an important position in the history of the Chinese revolution, in fact, there has always been a controversy over whether Li Zhilong was a martyr, and the party members who worked with Li Zhilong in those years have also made materials one after another, indicating that Li Zhilong did not defect in the early revolutionary activities, but the real existence of "Li Zhilong's Notice" has a very great impact on the identification of Li Zhilong's life.
As a revolutionary, Li Zhilong left a letter to his wife before his arrest and execution, in which he mentioned: "My revolutionary obligations are now over, don't be sad. I hope you will raise your children to adulthood and inherit my unfinished revolutionary cause. "Looking at the encounter of Li Zhilong's life, people can't help but feel sad.