When it comes to the director of the political department of the Whampoa Military Academy, everyone will definitely think of one person, that is, our Premier Zhou, who was only 26 years old at that time.
In fact, before Zhou Enlai, the Whampoa Military Academy also had two directors of the political department, the first was Dai Jitao, and the second was Shao Yuanchong, who was going to talk about this article.
Shao Yuanchong was born in 1890 in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, from an early age to the top of the intelligent, at the age of 13, he was admitted to the Zhejiang Higher School, and was a classmate of Chiang Kai-shek's "literary courage" Chen Bray.
After graduation, Shao Yuanchong did not want to be an official of the Qing Dynasty, so he traveled east to Japan to study, and met Sun Yat-sen and threw himself into the anti-Qing revolutionary struggle.
In 1915, Shao Yuanchong participated in Chen Qimei's anti-Yuan struggle. Everyone knows that Chen Qimei is the leading big brother of Chiang Kai-shek, so Shao Yuanchong naturally got acquainted with Chiang Kai-shek. In the same year, Shao Yuanchong participated in the Zhaohejian uprising launched by Chen Qimei, but due to insufficient preparation for the uprising, it was defeated, and Chen Qimei, Shao Yuanchong, Chiang Kai-shek and others withdrew one after another.
In the process of fleeing, Shao Yuanchong hid in Chiang Kai-shek's residence, where the two were originally fellow countrymen, and here they "shared weal and woe and shared hardships", which greatly deepened the friendship between Shao Yuanchong and Chiang Kai-shek, and soon married Jinlan.
In 1918, Shao Yuanchong was assigned by Sun Yat-sen to go to Europe and the United States to investigate the military, and then studied in the United States for several years. When he returned to Guangzhou in May 1924, his eldest brother Chiang Kai-shek was already the principal of the Whampoa Military Academy and a hot figure in the Kuomintang. Chiang Kai-shek also enthusiastically invited Shao Yuanchong to work at the Whampoa Military Academy, and took his wife Chen Jieru to entertain Shao Yuanchong at home many times.
(Photo: Chiang Kai-shek and Chen Jieru)
The first director of the political department of the Whampoa Military Academy was another brother of Chiang Kai-shek, Dai Jitao, but soon after the first phase of the Whampoa period began, Dai Jitao disappeared for no reason, so Chiang Kai-shek appointed Shao Yuanchong as the director of the political department.
However, shao Yuanchong was ousted by Huangpu students less than three months after taking office. Why? It turned out that during his presidency of the Political Department, he would only say some great truths about the Confucian and Mencius ways and would not talk about the truth of the revolution, which made the Huangpu students very bored, and every time they listened to his speech, they wanted to sleep, and gave him the nickname "Director of Hypnosis".
Liao Zhongkai reported the feedback from the students to Chiang Kai-shek, and Chiang Kai-shek had no choice but to dismiss the brother and appoint him separately.
So, who is the person who succeeds Shao Yuanchong? It was Zhou Enlai, who had just returned from France, who made the political department of the Whampoa Military Academy begin to revitalize and was deeply loved by students.
After leaving office, Shao Yuanchong once again served as Sun Yat-sen's confidential secretary and accompanied Sun Yat-sen north. A few months later, Sun Yat-sen died of illness in Beiping, and Shao Yuanchong witnessed the scene of Sun Yat-sen's death and was one of the nine witnesses of the will at that time.
However, after Sun Yat-sen's death, Shao Yuanchong did not follow his three major policies, but turned to Chiang Kai-shek.
However, although Shao Yuanchong chose to support Chiang Kai-shek, he resolutely opposed the policy of benevolence and compromise with Japan in dealing with the Japanese aggressors. After the outbreak of the Great Wall War of Resistance, Shao Yuanchong immediately went to Beiping, braved the heavy snow and wind to the front line of the Xifeng pass, and saw the soldiers guarding the Great Wall with their flesh and blood, Shao Yuanchong was deeply moved.
After returning to Nanjing, Shao Yuanchong reported to Chiang Kai-shek on the situation on the front line, hoping that Chiang Kai-shek would increase his troops as soon as possible and recover the national territory. However, at this time, Chiang Kai-shek was busy "encircling and suppressing" the Red Army in Jiangxi, and he could not listen to Shao Yuanchong's words at all.
At the Political Congress of the Kuomintang Central Committee held in 1935, Shao Yuanchong denounced the crimes of aggression committed by the Japanese fascists and angrily denounced the traitorous behavior of Wang Jingwei and his ilk, and a fierce quarrel broke out with Wang Jingwei, after which he resigned in anger.
In early December 1936, Chiang Kai-shek summoned Shao Yuanchong to Xi'an to discuss the matter of "encircling and suppressing" the Red Army. But unfortunately, shao Yuanchong had just arrived in Xi'an a few days later, and a mutiny occurred.
In the Xi'an incident, Chiang Kai-shek, Chen Cheng, Wei Lihuang and others were detained, when Yang Hucheng's soldiers went to the guest house to arrest Shao Yuanchong and others, Shao Yuanchong jumped out of the window and fled, and the soldiers behind him chased and shouted, but Shao Yuanchong still did not stop, and finally was shot by the soldiers, seriously injured, and died two days after being sent to the hospital, only 46 years old.
In addition, it is worth mentioning that Shao Yuanchong also has two concubines who are also very famous, one is jiang Zuobin, a first-class general of the Kuomintang, and the other is the famous scientist Zhu Kezhen, and the three of them are married to Zhang Bochun's three daughters.
History Inn by Wittingenstein