The famous Kuomintang leftist and the only person within the Kuomintang who had the ability to shake Chiang Kai-shek's position, Deng Yanda played a very important role during the Wuhan regime in 1927. Although he did not have an army directly under his control, he almost controlled the military power in Wuhan by virtue of his network with generals such as Zhang Fakui and Tang Shengzhi. At that time, the situation was complex and full of crises, how did Deng Yanda see the light of day in this period of crisis, resolve internal contradictions, and finally consolidate the Wuhan regime? What kind of twists and turns are hidden in this yearning historical past?
The establishment of the Wuhan regime and the important position of Deng Yanda
The Northern Expedition of the National Revolutionary Army won a decisive victory in 1927, overthrowing the Beiyang government and unifying China. Subsequently, the Kuomintang convened the famous Wuchang Conference, at which it was decided to establish a Nationalist government, with the capital set at Wuhan. Wuhan has since become the political center of New China.
The meeting decided that the Nationalist Government would be under the leadership of the Kuomintang Central Executive Committee, with Wang Ching-wei as the chairman of the Nationalist Government. However, the real power rested with the KMT's Central Executive Committee and the premier. Wang Ching-wei's powers were limited to a symbolic head of state.
The post of premier is held by Wang Zhengting, and the premier's office consists of the General Political Department, the General Affairs Department, and the Prime Minister's Confidential Office. The General Political Department is in charge of military power, and the director is Deng Yanda. Although Deng Yanda did not directly govern the army, as the leader of the left wing of the Kuomintang, he had extensive influence in the army.
Deng Yanda was originally the director of the Political Department of the First Front Army of the Northern Expeditionary Army, and made great contributions in the Northern Expedition. He is not only progressive in thinking, but also calm and skillful. When the Northern Expeditionary Army marched into the Central Plains, Deng Yanda reversed the defeat twice and saved the Northern Expeditionary Army from danger. He and Zhang Fakui, the commander of the Cantonese army, are old acquaintances, and the two have been friends since before the Northern Expedition. Zhang Fakui loves Deng Yanda very much and respects his opinions.
After the end of the Northern Expedition, the National Revolutionary Army was reorganized into the First, Second and Third Armies of the National Revolutionary Army. The First Army was under the direct leadership of the Wuhan Provisional Government and was under the de facto control of Wang Ching-wei, then premier. The Second Army was formed by the Guangdong Army, the main force of the Northern Expedition, and Zhang Fakui served as the commander and commander-in-chief. The Third Army was commanded by Tang Shengzhi, and the Tang Hunan soldiers accounted for the majority.
It can be seen that at the beginning of the establishment of the Wuhan Nationalist Government, military power was scattered in the hands of warlords from all walks of life. Although Deng Yanda, director of the General Political Department, had no direct military power, he had a transcendent position and played an important balancing role between the government and various warlords.
Deng Yanda knew that in order to consolidate the power in Wuhan, it was necessary to unite the warlords from all walks of life and prevent infighting. With the assistance of Soviet adviser Thomas and others, Deng Yanda tried to win over Zhang Fakui, Tang Shengzhi and other generals to prevent them from turning against each other. Deng Yanda's basic strategy was to use the power of Zhang Fakui's Yue army to contain Tang Shengzhi's Hunan army, and at the same time let Tang Shengzhi play the role of a balancer among the warlords.
Obviously, if Deng Yanda succeeds in uniting the various warlords, the Wuhan regime will easily gain the support of the warlords and thus stabilize the regime. Otherwise, once the warlords fight among themselves, it will inevitably lead to disaster. Deng Yanda and his Soviet advisers understood this, so they spared no effort to mediate and clear the warlords to prevent the rift within the Wuhan regime from widening.
The situation in Wuhan is full of crises
At the beginning of the establishment of the Wuhan regime, although there was a brief period of calm, the situation of internal and external troubles was soon exposed. The crisis first emerged because of the rebellion of Xia Douyin.
Xia Douyin was formerly the commander of the 14th Army of the National Revolutionary Army and made many meritorious contributions in the Northern Expedition. With the establishment of the Wuhan regime, in order to consolidate the rear, Deng Yanda reorganized Xia Douyin's division into the independent 14th Division, which was directly under the central command. At that time, the situation was tense at the time of the separation of Ninghan and the two sides of the strait. Deng Yanda suspected that Xia Doo-in might fall to Chiang Kai-shek's Nanjing government.
Sure enough, it didn't take long for Xia Douyin's department to move. Xia Douyin's department, which was stationed in Yichang at that time, was suddenly attacked by the 20th Army of the National Revolutionary Army. Yang Sen, commander of the 20th Army, was already secretly instructed by the Nanjing government to plot to seize Yichang. In the face of the sudden attack, Xia Douyin was caught off guard and had to lead his troops to evacuate Yichang in a hurry and retreat to defend Shashi.
This move immediately aroused Deng Yanda's strong alarm. As the top military leader of the Wuhan regime, Deng Yanda was very dissatisfied with Xia Douyin's unauthorized actions. He suspected that Xia Douyin had colluded with the Nanjing government and was preparing to surrender to Chiang Kai-shek. Once Xia Douyin defects, the rear of Wuhan will fall into a huge crisis.
At the same time, the Hunan army under Tang Shengzhi also made Deng Yanda feel worried. Although Tang Shengzhi was nominally loyal to the Wuhan regime, he was always wary of Deng Yanda. Deng Yanda has always thought that Tang Shengzhi is difficult to control and is a dangerous person. Now that Xia Douyin has shown signs of rebellion, Tang Shengzhi's position is even more doubtful. In the event that the Hunan army and Xia Douyin's troops joined forces to rebel, it would be a fatal blow to the Wuhan regime.
The crisis was imminent, and Deng Yanda was at a loss. At that time, he was commanding operations in Henan, and after learning the news, he hurried back to Wuhan. When he returned to Wuhan, he found that the situation was more dire than he had imagined. The main force of the Northern Expeditionary Army had all gone to the Central Plains battlefield, and the vicinity of Wuhan was almost an empty city, with only the remnants of Zhang Fakui's Cantonese army garrisoned. If Xia Douyin and Tang Shengzhi really join hands to fight against the water, Wuhan will be extremely dangerous.
Seeing that the situation was precarious, Deng Yanda immediately tried every means to curb the expansion of the crisis. He first sent Bao Huiseng, a member of the Communist Party, to Shashi to persuade Xia Douyin to return to Yichang as a government representative. As a condition, Deng Yanda promised to organize the Xia Department into a regular army.
"The current situation, we are not trying to eliminate Xia Douyin, but to fight for Xia Douyin, we are not difficult for him, there will be no danger if you go. Deng Yanda said to Bao Huiseng. Bao Huiseng had no choice but to go to Shashi and left Hankou on the ship "Jiangtian", which carried supplies from the summer department.
At the same time, Deng Yanda also set out to properly handle the relationship with Tang Shengzhi to avoid gaps. He first appeased the generals of Tang Shengzhi's army from Hunan, making them understand that the Wuhan government had no intention of seizing power, but only wanted unified command. Then, he repeatedly told Zhang Fakui to be more friendly with Tang Shengzhi and avoid extraneous branches. Although the two had a private rivalry, they couldn't resist the pleading of the director of the General Political Department, so Zhang Fakui had no choice but to give up.
In this way, the crisis was initially alleviated, but the prospects for the Wuhan regime remained uncertain...
Deng Yanda maneuvered between various forces
In the face of a crisis, Deng Yanda naturally can't fight alone, he needs to use all aspects of strength to resolve the current predicament.
First of all, Deng Yanda pinned his hopes on Zhang Fakui's Cantonese army to contain Xia Douyin's troops and Tang Shengzhi's troops. Zhang Fakui and Deng Yanda have always been good friends, and the two have been friends of life and death since the Northern Expedition. This time Deng Yanda was in a predicament, Zhang Fakui naturally chose not to lose, and supported Rong to help without saying a word.
Zhang Fakui had a close relationship with Xia Douyin's generals, and both sides were old revolutionaries of the Wuchang Uprising. Taking advantage of this connection, Zhang Fakui sent his cronies to Shashi to try to persuade Xia Douyin to return to his division to regain his strength and stop colluding with Nanjing. At the same time, Zhang Fakui also met with Tang Shengzhi in person, hoping that he would put aside his doubts and go hand in hand with the Wuhan regime.
On the other hand, Deng Yanda also actively mobilized the forces of the Communist Party and sought their support and cooperation. Deng Yanda has always advocated the Communist Party, and this time he naturally hoped to use the influence of the Communists in the army. Appointed by Deng Yanda, Bao Huiseng and others traveled thousands of miles to the front line to talk about Xiang Xia Douyin in the name of government representatives. They sincerely preached to the officers and men of the Xia Department that they must not be tempted by Chiang Kai-shek's money, still less should they contradict the Nanjing side.
In addition, Deng Yanda also enlisted strong support from Soviet advisers. Thomas and other Soviet military advisers repeatedly explained the current crisis to Zhang Fakui and others, persuading them to unite and not be lured by Chiang Kai-shek's conspiracy. Under the mediation of Soviet advisers, Zhang Fakui finally made concessions and agreed to join forces with part of Tang Shengzhi's troops, so as to help curb the movements of Xia Douyin's troops.
Deng Yanda himself ran around and lobbied powerful factions from all sides. He personally visited Zhang Fakui's headquarters and used reason to convey the hope that the Cantonese army would carry forward the spirit of the anti-Da soldiers. At the same time, he also sent his henchmen to Tang Shengzhi's Hunan army camp to try to ease the contradictions between the two sides. Under the mediation of Deng Yanda, Zhang Fakui and Tang Shengzhi did have a tendency to relieve their anger.
Although the crisis has not yet been completely resolved, Deng Yanda's efforts have finally eased the situation. While there are still differences, the parties have regained their resolve to be united, at least temporarily.
In addition to these, Deng Yanda also took some other actions, such as getting in touch with the Russian democratic forces to seek their support. In short, he was trying to unite all forces to deal with the threat from Chiang Kai-shek. This crisis will test Deng Yanda's wisdom and courage.
The eventual dissolution of the Wuhan regime
Despite Deng Yanda's hard work, the rift in the Wuhan regime could not be fully healed. Over time, the divisions between the various forces deepened, culminating in the complete collapse of the Wuhan regime.
The turning point came in late July 1927. Tang Shengzhi first gradually withdrew from the Wuhan regime and transferred his troops in the direction of Hunan. As the commander of the Hunan army, Tang Shengzhi had always been wary, and he was inevitably suspicious of the leadership of the Wuhan government. Previously, Zhang Fakui and others repeatedly explained their doubts to him, and Deng Yanda even came forward to say it in person, but it was difficult to eliminate his suspicions after all.
Seeing that the situation was getting worse day by day, Deng Yanda had to take tough measures. He sent people to reason with Tang Shengzhi both hard and soft, threatening to take military action against the Hunan army. But Tang Shengzhi was not moved at all, and his attitude was very tough. Seeing that there was nothing to be done, Deng Yanda had no choice but to give up.
Tang Shengzhi's defection was undoubtedly a major loss to the Wuhan regime, but an even more serious blow came from the complete defection of Xia Douyin's troops. After the defeat in the Battle of Yichang, although Xia Douyin withdrew to Shashi, Deng Yanda still hoped that he would change his mind. To this end, Deng Yanda first used both soft and hard measures to persuade Xia to return to the Wuhan government. Later, he sent Bao Hui monk to go in person and try his best to dredge.
But Xia Douyin was not moved at all. Instead, he came up with more vicious ideas. On the occasion of Bao Huiseng's visit to Shashi, Xia Douyin actually took him hostage and blackmailed the Wuhan government into giving him heavy troops and horses in exchange.
In the face of such unreasonable coercion, Deng Yanda was naturally angry. At his insistence, the Wuhan government rejected Xia Douyin's unreasonable demands and ordered Zhang Fakui's Cantonese army to immediately march to Yichang to exterminate the remnants of the Xia army.
Soon, the bloody Battle of Yichang began. The two sides waged a life-and-death struggle in Yichang and its vicinity. Relying on their outnumbered numbers, the Cantonese army finally defeated the Xia Department and wiped it out completely. But the price of victory was heavy, with numerous casualties on both sides, and Yichang was completely destroyed.
After this battle, Xia Douyin led the remnants of his army to flee to Nanjing, and finally moved closer to Chiang Kai-shek. At this point, the Wuhan regime has existed in name only, and its foundation has been completely shaken. Although Deng Yanda temporarily calmed down the crisis, the arrogance of the warlords of all walks of life has been fully exposed. Obviously, they are all waiting for their time to go their own way one day.
Sure enough, Zhang Fakui led the Cantonese army to evacuate Wuhan and return to Guangdong. The Wuhan regime has since become a virtual reality, and Deng Yanda's power has disappeared. Eventually, more and more warlords gradually turned away from the Wuhan regime and joined the camp of the Nationalist government in Nanjing.
In this way, the Wuhan regime collapsed in just one year, and Deng Yanda withdrew from the political arena. Although the former left-wing leader of the Kuomintang was ultimately unable to prevent the decline of power within the party, he did make unremitting efforts to save the last ray of life for the Wuhan regime.
The end of the Wuhan regime and the decline of Soviet Russian influence in China
The fall of the Wuhan regime marked the complete defeat of the Kuomintang left in central China. The "Wuchang Uprising" campaign launched by Deng Yanda and others originally hoped to change the situation of the Kuomintang right-wing dictatorship by force, but in the end it was in vain.
To a large extent, the cause lies in the contradictions and divisions within the Wuhan regime. Since its establishment, Deng Yanda has faced challenges from Xia Douyin and Tang Shengzhi. These warlords, who had actual armies, were suspicious of the leadership of the Kuomintang Central Committee, and they inevitably harbored suspicions. Even if Deng Yanda spared no effort to explain his doubts to them, it was difficult to resolve the deep-seated suspicions after all.
On the other hand, the Wuhan regime was also under heavy pressure from the Nationalist government in Nanjing. Chiang Kai-shek, as the supreme leader of the Chinese Kuomintang, naturally could not tolerate the rebellion of Deng Yanda and others. To this end, he spared no effort to deal with the Wuhan regime, exerting all kinds of political, economic and military pressure.
Chiang Kai-shek's strategy was to gradually cut off the vitality of the Wuhan regime. He first cut off the region's finances and controlled tax revenues; Second, he instructed his cronies and warlords Guan Huanglin and Yang Sen to launch an armed attack to deprive the Wuhan regime of its military strength.
In the face of Chiang Kai-shek's heavy blows, the Wuhan regime began to retreat. In the end, it led to the successive betrayals of Xia Douyin, Zhang Fakui and others, and finally caused this short-lived regime to collapse.
The fall of the Wuhan regime also marked a significant weakening of Soviet Russian influence in China. Since 1924, Soviet Russia has intervened in the revolutionary cause of the Kuomintang at all levels, trying to carry out the socialist revolution in China. The establishment of the Wuhan regime had given them high hopes that they had finally found the backbone of the Chinese revolution.
For this reason, Soviet Russia spared no effort to support the Wuhan regime. They sent a large number of military advisers to guide them, such as Thomas; It also expanded its influence within the Wuhan government through the infiltration activities of the Chinese Communist Party. At one time, representatives of Soviet Russia were even included in the highest decision-making body of the Wuhan regime.
However, the defeat of the Wuhan regime undoubtedly wiped out all the efforts of Soviet Russia. Although their military advisers, such as Thomas and others, continued to mediate, they could not prevent the collapse of the Wuhan regime. The successive betrayals of Xia Douyin, Zhang Fakui and other pro-Soviet Russian factions were even more a blow to the Soviet Russian side.
In the collapse of the Wuhan regime, many communists loyal to Soviet Russia were also brutally suppressed. They have been arrested and imprisoned, executed, and many have been forced into exile. This is undoubtedly a fatal blow to Soviet Russian influence in China.
The end of the Wuhan regime marked the end of an era. From then on, Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist government in Nanjing began to dominate North China, and Soviet Russia had to turn its attention to other forces that had intervened in the Chinese revolution. This short and tortuous Wuchang uprising ended in failure.