Kong Xiangxi, a native of Taigu, Shanxi, was born in a landlord family, and his ancestors opened a ticket number in Shanxi, but his father's generation has gradually declined. Kong Xiangxi attended a church school, participated in Christianity, and later went to the United States to study. Growing up and seeing the corruption and backwardness of the Qing Dynasty and the unscrupulous behavior of the Western powers in China inspired the national patriotism to study in the West and serve the motherland. When he was studying in the United States with the help of the church, he met Sun Yat-sen and joined the League to become an anti-Qing revolutionary. He also got acquainted with Song Ailing, who was studying in the United States, when Song was Sun Yat-sen's English secretary, and the two talked, and soon, Song Ailing and Kong got married. Song Nai introduced his sister Qingling to Sun to take over the position of English secretary, and later Song Qingling became Mrs. Sun. Kong Xiangxi also became Sun's revolutionary helper.
Sun Yat-sen died, and at the end of 1927, Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Meiling married. At this time, Chiang was in control of the central power of the Kuomintang. Soong Tzu-wen, who replaced Chiang as Minister of Finance, had a conflict with Chiang Kai-shek on the question of whether the financial funds should be used to resist Japan or to encircle and suppress the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, so he resigned from the post of Minister of Finance. Chiang Kai-shek then changed Kong Xiangxi, who was then Minister of Industry, to Minister of Finance.
The mediocre Kong Yongzhi (Kong Xiangxi) obeyed Chiang's orders in everything, and used the means of issuing public bonds, raising tax rates, issuing banknotes, and lending foreign loans to raise anti-communist funds for Chiang Kai-shek, and thus developed and consolidated Kong's financial power. During the Anti-Japanese War, Kong made a fortune under the banner of anti-Japanese resistance, making the Kong family the richest family in China, and Song Ailing became the first "rich woman" in China.
There are more than 10 daily newspapers and five or six evening newspapers in Chongqing, and with the exception of the "Shishi Xinbao," which is run at the expense of the Kong family, all of them criticize Kong Xiangxi, who is known as the "God of Wealth," and will never let go of his family's scandal. They openly criticized, insinuated, in all kinds of ways, in all kinds of tones, and showed no mercy to Kong. During the Anti-Japanese War, there were many comic publications and many giant comic exhibitions, and the "Kong Caishen" family was the biggest target of cynicism. Among them, the most representative is Gao Longsheng and Wang Zimei's "Fantasia". The ridicule of Kong in the press contributed to the situation that "rats cross the street, and everyone shouts and beats them!" Some private newspaper bosses told the editorial department: "Except for Lao Jiang, everyone else will be scolded if they are wrong." "Not scolding Chiang Kai-shek is to protect yourself. Kong Xiangxi, everyone is scolding, and people are happy.
The intellectuals, represented by Ma Yinchu, openly exposed and criticized Chiang Kai-shek's fiscal policy on many occasions, pointing the spearhead at Kong Xiangxi: "Millions of soldiers have sacrificed their blood and hundreds of millions of people have been displaced...... Take advantage of the fire to rob, make a fortune and make a fortune" and so on. At the Central Experimental Theater of Huangjiayakou in Shizhong District, Ma Lao spoke impassionedly. He said: Some people say that Chiang Kai-shek is a "national hero", so it is necessary to "destroy relatives with righteousness" and immediately kill Kong Xiangxi. Ma Lao advocated the introduction of a "temporary property tax" to collect the ill-gotten gains of the wealthy and used them as anti-Japanese funds. He told the intimidators: "All the accusations are all facts. Ten days later, he gave a speech at Chongqing University and was warmly welcomed.
Kong Xiangxi was very angry and demanded that Ma Yinchu be punished, and Ma's speech also stung Chiang Kai-shek, and Chiang ordered Ma Yinchu's arrest. But Ma Lao's prestige was very high, which made it difficult for the gendarmerie command. After repeated discussions, in the name of inviting Ma Lao to go to the front line for investigation, Ma Lao was sent to Guizhou Xifeng for detention. According to Zhou Yanghao, the director of the prison, "When the horse was sent to the prison, the whole prison detainees were very angry. "Under this kind of pressure, only to take more care of Ma Lao's life, such as Ma Lao has the habit of cold bathing, the prison authorities try their best to cooperate. I can only pretend not to know what Ma Lao said in prison. "After that, he was detained and soon released. After being released from prison, Ma Lao's exposure of the "Four Great Families" continued.
The domestic public and public opinion have been constantly attacking Kong Caishen. The veteran faction in the Kuomintang, the Department of Political Science, the CC faction, and the Three Youth League also waited for an opportunity to turn the corner, and the Department of Political Science was the first to attack. In 1941, when Japan attacked Hong Kong and was in danger, some important officials of the Kuomintang government in Hong Kong urgently telegraphed the Chongqing government to send planes to Hong Kong to carry out the evacuation mission. There was a list of people who should be brought back to Chongqing, personally approved by Chiang Kai-shek. They include Hu Zhengzhi, general manager of Ta Kung Pao, Zhou Shang, special commissioner of the Ministry of Education in Hong Kong, Chen Jitang, leader of the Guangdong army, known as the "King of the Southern Heavens," Chen Ce, chairman of the Hong Kong and Macao branch of the Kuomintang Central Committee and military representative of the government in Hong Kong, and Fang Zhenwu, a well-known anti-Japanese general. These people were all waiting for their special flight at Hong Kong's Kai Tak Airport. They never expected that when the plane landed, Miss Kong Er, who was wearing military uniforms and breeches, held the plane door and claimed with a pistol that anyone who dared to get on the plane would shoot. All members of the Central Committee, generals, and senior officials are not allowed to board the plane. also drove down the "Southern Heavenly King" Chen Jitang, who got on the plane. Fang Zhenwu and Chen Ce were also denied boarding. The adjutant of the Kong family carried boxes and bags to transport items onto the plane, and also carried foreign dogs, nurses, attendants, and even high-end toilets and bathtubs on the plane.
It was the last plane, and the Japanese gunfire was close to the airfield. What happened later was that Chen Ce, who had served as a vice admiral and had only one leg in the defense of Sun Yat-sen, ventured across the river to Guangdong in order to escape from Hong Kong and escape from the Japanese occupation zone. Chen Mingshu and Hu Zhengzhi escaped from Hong Kong after nine deaths. Fong Chun-wu was shot dead by the Japanese on his way out of Hong Kong (he was the grandfather of Anson Chan, a well-known Hong Kong figure).
The Department of Political Science not only complained to Chiang Kai-shek, but also used the "Ta Kung Pao" and other newspapers to expose and criticize, and asked the Supervision Yuan to send personnel to investigate. Before the matter was over, Wei Juxian, who was "half willing and half promoted" and known as Master Wei, visited Yu Youren, the president of the Supervision Yuan. Wei is a historian who graduated from Tsinghua University, and as a "Shanxi talent", he was "accommodated" in the "talent pool" of the Confucian family, and placed in the research office of the central bank with a high salary. Wei took the opportunity to study history for a long time and made a lot of achievements. Wei found Dean Yu and said: "Last year, the Bank of China settled, and the balance was no more, no less, no less than one yuan of fiat currency. Isn't that weird?"
The Bank of China is the treasury, and the funds have been swallowed up by the "imperial relatives" that year. The handling personnel have grievances and attack each other because of the uneven distribution of spoils. Although Wei is a person who eats the food of the Confucian family, after all, he still has a bit of literati righteousness, and when he hears that the matter of the Bank of China is uneven, he does not dare to publicly criticize Kong, so he reveals the relevant situation to Yu Youren, president of the Supervision Yuan.
Mr. Sun Yat-sen founded the Kuomintang and gave the Nationalist Government a five-chamber system, which is a democratic norm, with the five chambers running in parallel, exercising power independently, and checking each other. The five courts are the Executive Yuan, the Legislative Yuan, the Judicial Yuan, the Supervision Yuan, and the Examination Yuan. Chiang Kai-shek carried out dictatorship, during the Anti-Japanese War, with the need of military first, set up the Supreme Council of National Defense as its chairman, and the president of the Fifth Yuan as the ex-officio member, so everything must be subordinated to him. After the meeting, it was held that Wei's report materials were well-founded and came from within the central bank, and it was decided that Liu Yusheng, a member of the Hubei Supervision Commission, would write the "Case of Impeachment of Kong Xiangxi, President of the Central Bank, for Corruption and Dereliction of Duty, Bringing Disaster to the Country and the People." Cheng Cangbo, secretary general of the Supervision Yuan, is a very key figure in the Supervision Yuan, who was an important backbone of CC and once served as the president of the Central Daily. So Cheng signed the press release and sent it to the "Central News Agency". As everyone knows, Chen Bui, director of the first division of Chiang Kai-shek's chamberlain, called and said that Chiang Kai-shek had "ordered" to withdraw the press release.
The next day, only one Yishi Bao published it, because Fan Zhengbo, a member of the Supervisory Committee, was the chief writer of the newspaper, and he returned to the newspaper to publish the article as this newspaper. Fan himself belongs to the Central Union, and from his standpoint, it should not only be published, but also placed in a prominent position. As a result, Yishi Bao was ordered to take back the newspaper on the same day and was suspended for one month. This kind of punishment is very light, although it is a note under the Central Propaganda Department, it is actually Chen Bui's doing. Cheng Cangbo was also suspended, and after a period of time, he was sent to the Central Propaganda Department as a deputy minister.
The "impeachment case" was aborted. As a veteran of the Kuomintang, Yu Youren has always looked down on Chiang Kai-shek for "not learning and not knowing", claiming that he would quit and plan to leave Chongqing. This news was immediately known to Chiang Kai-shek, and the Executive Yuan sent three barrels of gasoline for the president's long journey. Yu Qurong did not return and formally submitted his resignation.
Chiang also sent Zhang Qun, chairman of Sichuan Province, to persuade him to stay. Yu returned to Chongqing. Later, Yu Dean took a car, and the wheels flew off on the way, and when he took an airplane, oil leaked in the air. escaped death, and the fortune teller was in no danger. When the government and the opposition condemned the bad deeds of Kong Caishen in all aspects, the four major families also broke out into infighting. There were two major events that shocked the capital: 1. The execution of Lin Shiliang, director of the transportation department of the Central Trust Bureau
The spy organization of Dai Li, the leader of the military command, grew from the "Group of Ten" to several hundred people, and then expanded to several thousand to tens of thousands, and later became known as 100,000 people, including the armed forces. Dai Li knew Lao Jiang's temper, and in order to please Lao Jiang, he never reached out to Lao Jiang to ask for money outside the budget. In the early days, when there were only more than 100 people in Shanghai, the funds were not enough, and Du Yuesheng could also subsidize them. When he arrived in Chongqing, tens of thousands of people, Dai looked for Kong Xiangxi. In order to defend Chiang Kai-shek, the military commander (abbreviated as the Military Survey and Statistics Bureau of the Kuomintang Military Committee) set up a "special guard group" in the chamber. In order to open his mouth to Kong, Dai also set up a "special police team" for Kong. Kong also understood in his heart that before Dai could speak, Kong added a "freight bureau" to Dai under the Ministry of Finance, which meant to use this signboard to find money. Due to various factors, it is necessary to set up an anti-smuggling bureau under the Ministry of Finance, and the selection of Kong Ti for director of the director will be determined by Chiang. This anti-smuggling bureau is the largest organization in the oil and water, and Dai Li believes that it must be held in his hands. This not only makes him more powerful, but more importantly, this "oil and water" can feed millions of spies, so it is inevitable. Unexpectedly, Kong Xiangxi mentioned that there was no Dai among the few people, and the list was sent to Lao Jiang, who wrote Dai Li's name in the instructions column. Although Dai was given the position of director of the Anti-Smuggling Administration, he was extremely dissatisfied with Kong.
Chiang Kai-shek first pulled his old uncle Song Ziwen to be the Minister of Finance, and after Kong Xiangxi took advantage of the opportunity to seize this post, he took control of the four major banks of "Zhongzhong Jiaonong", controlled the entire financial circle, and seriously hurt Soong's interests. Song Ziwen, who was waiting for an opportunity to counterattack, heard that Dai Li was dissatisfied with Kong, so he wooed Dai and said to Dai: "In the future, I will be in charge of the financial power, and I will cover all the funds for the military command. So they joined forces and poured holes.
At the end of 1941, China formed an anti-fascist "ally" with Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union, and the United States Relief Administration supported hundreds of Dodge trucks in China, mainly to transport medical supplies urgently needed in the War of Resistance Against Japan, canned food needed at the front line, military supplies and other military supplies. At that time, Dai Li had a supervision department in the Kunming Southwest Transportation Control Bureau, and he inspected all vehicles that passed, and held the power to gate. Hearing that the vehicles were received by the Vice President of the Executive Yuan and the Minister of Finance and distributed to them, Dai Li believed that some vehicles should be allocated to both the public and private sectors (the Freight Bureau and the Anti-Smuggling Administration). Dai Li's request for something from someone, as long as he opens his mouth, he doesn't say that he can't ask for it, not to mention that he should give him a little. Unexpectedly, the fertilizer and water do not flow into the fields of outsiders, Kong Xiangxi handed over all the money to Lin Shiliang, director of the Transportation Division of the CITIC Bureau, and Lin was lucky in the Kong family at this time, and he had a hot fight with Miss Kong Er. In order to train his future son-in-law, Kong also trusted him very much, so he handed over all these hundreds of large trucks to him. Dai Li couldn't bear it anymore, and Song Ziwen was agitated behind him, so he immediately withdrew the special guards guarding the Kong Mansion, but Kong still didn't buy it. Soon after, the military commander received information from Kunming that half of the vehicles of Lin Shiliang's transport brigade were not transporting military supplies, but a large number of materials that were in short supply in the Chongqing market, such as imported cosmetics, American nylon socks, French perfumes, women's clothing, men's wool, American cigarettes, European foreign goods, coffee, brand-name tobacco and liquor, and so on. At that time, there was a shortage of materials in the capital during the Anti-Japanese War, and even toothpaste could not be made locally, and there was no entry from outside. Such a batch of foreign imports was transported to Chongqing in real gold taels. Dai Li did not miss this opportunity and ordered Lin Shiliang to be immediately detained and all vehicles to be sent to Chongqing by the Supervision Department. After arriving in Chongqing, the car arrived at the place two and a half kilometers in front of Haitangxi Station, which was the only way for Chiang Kai-shek to go to Huangshan (Chiang lived in Huangshan). Dai Li's arrangements were in place, and Jiang went from Zeng Jiayan to the Huangshan Mansion, and Dai accompanied him to a place of two and a half kilometers, where Dai reported to Chiang that he had detained 50 large military trucks carrying smuggled goods, and asked Jiang to check it in person after getting out of the car. Jiang was furious when he saw it, asked who did it, and ordered Dai Li to send the main culprit, Lin Shiliang, to the Judge Advocate General. Dai struck while the iron was hot, and when Jiang was angry, he handed over the written case report and the list of seized materials to Lin Shiliang, the chief culprit, to He Chengjun, the director of military justice. Accompanied by Dai Li, the military judge interrogated the confessions, and Lin Shiliang confessed them one by one without fear. Mao Renfeng, director of the Military Command Office, immediately revealed to the press, especially the half-page report of the "Business Daily" and wrote a comment. Some newspapers said: "It is not surprising that there have been corrupt officials and corrupt officials in ancient and modern dynasties in China and abroad, and the key lies in whether the authorities can exercise autonomy in accordance with the law in dealing with corruption." And advocated heavy punishment in troubled times, etc. At this time, Miss Kong Er not only lost millions of gold bars, but also the life of her best friend Lin Shiliang was also in danger. She ran to Soong Meiling to cry, causing Chiang Kai-shek and his wife to quarrel over it. I heard that Chiang Kai-shek was angry and killed a beloved foreign dog with a cane. Dai Li, with Lin's confession and the Business Daily, as well as foreign correspondents in Chongqing, sent telegrams abroad, mainly to the United States, to Chiang Kai-shek. At this time, Chiang was asking the United States for a loan, and in order to confess his attitude of severely punishing according to law, he had to put the words "shoot to punish the officials" on the confession received by Dai. Dai Li was afraid of change, so he personally took the approval to the Judge Advocate General and asked Director He to implement it immediately. This kind of speed was not expected by the Kong family, and when they were still planning to rescue Lin Shiliang, the news of the Central News Agency was published in various newspapers and periodicals: "Yesterday I shot Lin Shiliang, a smuggler and embezzler. Although he was only a scapegoat, it was a great shake to the myth that the god of wealth could not be defeated.
2. Gao Bingfang, director of the Direct Tax Bureau of the Ministry of Finance, was sentenced to life imprisonment
The struggle between Chen Guofu, Chen Lifu and Kong Xiangxi of the four major families is also three feet frozen, not a day's cold. In February 1945, various newspapers in Chongqing prominently carried a news item entitled "Gao Bingfang Dereliction of Duty and Corruption, Court Arrested and Brought to Justice Yesterday" in a prominent position. When the news came out, the government and the opposition were surprised, and there was a lot of discussion on the streets and alleys.
Gao Bingfang is a native of Boxing County, Shandong Province, and graduated from the Forestry Department of Jinling University in Nanjing. In the 20s of the last century, when Kong Xiangxi was the Minister of Industry and Commerce and the Minister of Industry, Gao won the trust of Kong because of his ability and diligence in the Ministry of Industry.
In the 30s, Kong became the president of the Central Bank of the Kuomintang and the Minister of Finance, and Gao became the director of the Department of Taxation.
After Gao took office, in the name of sorting out local taxation, he initiated a national taxation conference and invited the directors of the finance departments, finance bureaus, and relevant personnel of all provinces and municipalities to hold a very lively meeting in Nanjing, straightening out the fiscal and taxation relations between the central and local governments, and resolving some irrational local fiscal and taxation problems. After the meeting, he decided to organize direct taxation to create a brand-new situation of taxation since the Republic of China, which would not only increase the financial resources of the central government, but also benefit the revenue of the local finances. Gao Bingfang's tax reform has been quite effective, and he is self-confident and talented, and he is arbitrary and domineering in everything.
There are many factions within the Kuomintang, and those engaged in party affairs also want to occupy a place in taxation. Gao Bingfang put forward the "three new" policy of "new taxes, new people, and new spirit", and urgently needed a group of new backbones to implement it, so he first made an exception under the Ministry of Finance to open a training course for tax personnel. This contradicts Chen Guofu, the head of the CC who is engaged in party affairs. Chen believes that the training of tax cadres should either be directly trained by the Central Political School, or the Ministry of Finance will entrust the Central Political School to handle it. Gao did not adopt, but under the Ministry of Finance he presided over his own training. In order to resist CC, Gao also invited Gui Yongqing, the head of the national student military training and teaching team, to serve as the head of the training class. Gui is a senior cadre of the Fuxing Society, which is obviously dealing with CC, which makes Chen Guofu angry, but it is inconvenient to offend the Fuxing Society, so he has to be patient for the time being and wait for an opportunity to retaliate.
In 1942, in the transformation of taxation, all personnel directly under the tax bureau had to be assessed and used. When the news broke, many important officials of the county bureau panicked. In the past, CC has sent a number of personnel to the tax office, and six of them have served as county branch directors. Therefore, Chen Guofu asked Xu Enzeng, director of the Central Bureau of Unification, to visit Gao Bingfang, say hello to Gao, and want to retain the directors of these six county bureaus. Gao replied to this, saying: "Tax personnel cannot concurrently hold other posts; all cadres, especially sub-bureau chiefs, must be strictly evaluated, and those who are incompetent will be eliminated." "After the assessment, two of the six county bureau chiefs were eliminated, and the other four were transferred.
This incident made Chen Guofu even more dissatisfied, and instructed Xu Enzeng to immediately set up a "Gao Bingfang Task Force". Xu is also the team leader, and the two dismissed branch chiefs are the main members. After some time, the task force wrote an investigation report on high corruption and malfeasance. Chen Guofu approved the court for severe punishment without looking at the director of the chamberlain, and arrested Gao in the name of the Military Commission, and Chen Guofu also instructed the court to sentence Gao to death. The court investigation found that the sentence was insufficient, and pushed back and forth, and under the pressure of Chen Guofu, he sentenced the sentence to death with the so-called "fuzzy trial". The court could not resist CC, and sentenced Gao Bingfang to death in the form of "initial judgment", and secretly instructed Gao to appeal to the High Court and use the method of pushing to deal with CC.
Gao was not convinced, and asked famous lawyers Zhang Shizhao and Dai Xiuzan to defend him. Coupled with the support of the law to change the trial in accordance with the law, the Chongqing District Court made a change of trial on January 20, 1946, and changed the verdict: "Gao Bingfang was sentenced to life imprisonment and deprived of rights for life for continuous direct profit in charge of affairs. ”
Gao Bingfang's detention in Chongqing Shibanpo Prison is also unique. The prison agreed with Gao's family and colleagues to build a one-bedroom private room within the big walls, and Gao served his sentence inside. He takes care of his own food, and he has a chef at his own expense. Reporters from various newspapers can interview through the prison warden. This is the only special example in the history of the Kuomintang's judicial prisons, where prisoners were imprisoned in their own mansions built in prisons.
Gao Bingfang's case added fuel to the fire of Kong, and before the lawsuit was over, Kong Caishen had already collapsed under the anger of the public. In order to make Kong Yong unable to turn over, CC originally wanted to put himself higher than death, although he did not achieve his goal, but he sentenced Gao Wuli with high-pressure means, which can be regarded as a heavy punch. The fallen Kong Xiangxi and his wife Song Ailing have already transferred huge amounts of government-owned dollars and gold bars from Brazil to Switzerland, and although they lost their black hats, they are still the richest man in China with $1 billion.
From the perspective of the "anti-Kong" strategy, the factional struggle within the four major families, after killing Lin Shiliang, arrested Gao and accelerated the fall of Kong Caishen. The internal strife of the "four major families" and the contradictions between Kong, Song, and Chen did not completely make Chiang Kai-shek lose confidence in "protecting Confucius". The precarious Kong chaebol finally became even crazier, on the one hand, transferring the eroded gold and dollars, and then devouring the dollar loans, and then the news of the gold price increase leaked. These make public opinion boil. The Supervisory Yuan intervened in the investigation and announced the major buyers of gold.
Chongqing is the capital of Chongqing, and many foreign newspapers and newsletters have sent reporters, most of them to the United States. They send out news without any scrutiny. The Kuomintang Central Propaganda Department has appointed a deputy minister to deal with them, and at the same time, it has also set up a "guest house for foreign journalists," which not only provides them with convenient communication, but also sends special personnel to wait on them. Although some of the American reporters said a few good things about Chiang, they were all liberals, and they would record everything they heard about and sent all the scandals of Kong Xiangxi's family to the United States. News that cannot be seen in China is reported in foreign newspapers and magazines. For example, in 1943, Kong Xiangxi wanted to open an evil road for finance, Sichuan is a major opium production province, and Chongqing is a drug distribution center in Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou provinces. At a news conference of the Kuomintang Executive Yuan, the American reporter raised this news in order to confirm it, but the spokesman of the Central Propaganda Department flatly denied it, and the company was aborted.
Kong Xiangxi's scandal avoided publicity, Chiang Kai-shek used to protect Kong in order to protect himself, and now when it is time to change horses, he abandons Kong to protect Chiang himself. Chen Bui reminded Lao Jiang that he had to abandon the car to protect the marshal if necessary.
In removing Kong from his post, Chiang Kai-shek adopted an ambiguous approach. In 1942, the international situation changed, and this change was beneficial to China's War of Resistance. An anti-fascist united front was formed against the allies of the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union, and China to jointly eliminate fascism. At this time, diplomacy is more important than military. Chiang Kai-shek appointed his uncle Soong Ziwen as foreign minister, and later went to the United States and Britain as a special envoy to sign a contract, so he raised the "grade" and made Soong vice president of the Executive Yuan and foreign minister. It was only in May 1945 that Kong Xiangxi formally submitted his resignation as president of the Executive Yuan. It can be seen that the inside story is subtle.
Kong Xiangxi, who was frustrated in the "Four Families", is still the "God of Wealth". In the 1947 Sichuan flood, Wu Guozhen, the mayor of Shanghai, presided over the fundraising meeting for the flood and invited Kong to attend. The participants thought that China's richest man would be willing to give, but Kong did not pull out a dime. It was Du Yuesheng who donated generously. Wu Guozhen said to the left and right: "You see this guy is not as good as a hooligan!"
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