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文|StewieHuh
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introduction
The image of the Kuomintang people in TV dramas is usually arrogant and lascivious, especially the Kuomintang officers, they are gorgeously dressed, live in luxury houses, drive luxury cars, and look so majestic and majestic, so that people will always subconsciously think that the Kuomintang army is very rich, but is this really the case?
Next, let's explore the real financial situation of the Kuomintang army from three different dimensions.
(National Army)
1. Fighting and not fighting are very different
In fact, there is no uniform standard for how much money officers at all levels of the Kuomintang army can receive, because when the Kuomintang was in power, the domestic economy was very chaotic, inflation was increasing year by year, and prices were paid at one price a year, and the salaries paid naturally varied from year to year.
However, one thing is certain, that is, the regulations on the distribution of salaries for the Kuomintang army are based on two sets of salary stamps, one is the "peacetime pay stamp" and the other is the "national disaster pay stamp".
(Two types of salary forms)
Taking the 1931 salary stamps as an example, you can clearly see from the table that in peacetime, the Kuomintang commander's salary was 320 yuan, the division commander's salary was 170 yuan, and the regimental commander's salary was 135 yuan.
According to the statistics of scholar Chen Zhirang, from 1931 to 1935, the average annual income of semi-yeoman peasants covering an area of 50 mu of land in the rural areas of Sichuan was 100 yuan.
(Kuomintang Army)
Although the salaries of all soldiers during the national disaster period were reduced, except for senior officers, the reduction in the number of soldiers was not too large, which shows that the claim that the Kuomintang army had money is really not groundless.
However, this does not mean that the image of Kuomintang soldiers in film and television dramas is in line with reality, on the one hand, because film and television dramas have the degree of artistic processing, and on the other hand, because although the Kuomintang army salary medal stipulates the amount of salary, except for a few teams, most soldiers simply cannot get so much money.
Second, different camps, different treatment
At that time, Chiang Kai-shek's army included the 37th Infantry Division of the Sixth Independent Brigade, several independent artillery regiments, engineer regiments, etc., and there were only about 400,000 people.
(Soldier of the National Army)
In addition to Chiang Kai-shek's descendants, there is another category of army that is also treated well, that is, the dependent army of the Central Army that Chiang Kai-shek can control, including Zhu Peide's army, Sun Lianzhong's army, and the original five-province coalition army that was absorbed by Chiang Kai-shek, etc.
Although the salaries of these armies were not as good as those of the Central Army, relying on Chiang Kai-shek's connections, their military leaders could always think of ways to make money, including but not limited to empty salaries, which people often heard about.
At that time, the common people wanted to enter the army to earn money, and the Kuomintang Central Army and the dependent army were good choices, if these two could not enter, they could only retreat and go to the army of local warlords to join the army.
(Nationalist Army in the Northwest)
During the Kuomintang period, there were many local warlords, such as Yan Xishan in Shanxi, Han Fuyu in Shandong, Song Zheyuan in Pingjin, and so on, and the number of troops of these warlord bosses ranged from 70,000 to 80,000 or more than 200,000.
Since the local warlords can rely on the territory they manage to raise money, the military salary of the soldiers is generally guaranteed, why do we say in general, it is because compared with the central army, the warlords have a small chassis, poor stability, and they are okay in peacetime.
(Soldier under the Miscellaneous Unit of the National Army)
Although the treatment of local warlords is slightly inferior, but at least there is still treatment, if even the local warlords can't enter, then they can only go to the "Wild Road Army", in that war era, the "Wild Road Army" is also a dream place for many people, after all, mixing food and clothing is not a problem.
The so-called "Yelu Army" is actually an army that does not even have territory, such as Ji Hongchang's 22nd Route Army, Gansu's New First Army, etc., these armies cannot be self-sufficient, and the only way to make money is to fight for Chiang Kai-shek, and Chiang Kai-shek pays their military expenses.
(Lao Jiang and his wife Song Meiling)
However, Chiang Kai-shek was a thief, not to mention how little he gave, and he often defaulted on military expenses, which made the "Yelu Army" often eat the last meal but not the next, and they did not dare to trouble Chiang Kai-shek, and such an army generally ended up disbanding in the end.
Third, different economies have different types of salaries
In addition to whether there is a war or not and the different camps, there is another factor that plays a decisive role in the amount of military pay, and that is inflation in the economic market.
(Society during the Republic of China)
During the Kuomintang administration, the economic situation deteriorated day by day, prices rose rapidly, and the salary level of soldiers and soldiers basically did not change, which made the salaries of soldiers on the surface similar to those of previous years, but the purchasing power plummeted.
In particular, after the monetary reform of the Golden Yuan Bill, according to the description of the "Declaration," the monthly salary of the army commander was 15,600 yuan, that of the division commander was 12,650 yuan, and that of the regiment commander was 9,600 yuan.
(Republic of China banknotes - gold yuan coupons)
Doesn't it sound good, but you must know that according to the market price at that time, even the salary of the army commander was only enough to buy more than one load of rice, and the army commander was like this, and the living conditions of other soldiers can be imagined.
Originally, the Kuomintang army was seriously polarized in terms of salaries, but when it encountered an economic crisis, the purchasing power of the gold yuan bills dropped sharply, and the life of the soldiers was even more difficult; the soldiers were the cornerstone of a country's stability, and the soldiers could not survive, and of course the Kuomintang could only lose the war.
(Wounded soldier of the National Army)
In addition, there were a large number of discipline problems in the Kuomintang army, such as corruption, empty salaries, and the sale of military supplies, which made the Kuomintang, which was already riddled with holes, even more fragile, and in the end, it became reasonable for the people to choose the Communist Party and drive the Kuomintang out of the mainland.
epilogue
To sum up, the Kuomintang army was not as rich as everyone imagined, and how much money the soldiers could receive had a lot to do with the economic situation, the faction of the army, and even whether or not to go to war.
As for the Kuomintang soldiers who live a luxurious life in film and television dramas, it is not completely absent, after all, the Kuomintang army has a serious polarization of salaries, officers get much more, and with some corruption operations, they can naturally live a good life, but the more corruption, the greater the damage to the army, and their good life cannot last long.
Resources:
"The system behind the "empty salary" is broken." Sunset 000.006(2011):31-31.