Text/Kingdom Building
He was born into a family of officials and eunuchs, but he betrayed his family to join the revolution; he grasped the military power of the National Government, but he did not have the ambition to reach the peak; he was a heartfelt professional soldier, taking responsibility for the mistakes of his subordinates, retreating in the moment of career peaks, and quietly overtaking the second half of his life. This man was the commander-in-chief of the Cantonese army, a loyal follower of Sun Yat-sen, and Chiang Kai-shek's brother-in-law, General Xu Chongzhi.
Xu Chongzhi was born in 1886, a native of Panyu, Guangdong, and was one of the main military leaders of the early Kuomintang after the "Xu Clan" on Gaodi Street in Guangzhou (now Beijing Road, Guangzhou).
Xu Chongzhi's uncle was Xu Yingqi, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang in the late Qing Dynasty, and the Xu family was one of the most famous and prestigious families in Panyu, Guangdong. Unfortunately, Xu Chongzhi lost his mother at the age of three and his father at the age of eight, and was raised by his uncle. Therefore, he is also a person who has suffered a lot since childhood.
Because of his family relationship, Xu Chongzhi had the honor of studying at the Japanese Army Non-Commissioned Officer School, and thus became acquainted with the revolutionary mentor Dr. Sun Yat-sen. In the pursuit of revolution, Xu Chongzhi took Sun Yat-sen as his teacher, joined the Chinese League, and betrayed his bureaucratic family.
In 1911, in response to the Wuchang Uprising, Xu Chongzhi, then the 20th coordinator (equivalent to a brigade commander) of the Tenth Town of Fuzhou, revolted in Fuzhou and separated it from the Qing government. Subsequently, he participated in the War of Yuan and the War of Defense, and went into exile in Japan after his defeat.
In 1917, Sun Yat-sen established a military government in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, and Xu Chongzhi became his right and left arm and began to emerge in the Cantonese army. At that time, there were only two corps in the Cantonese Army, the commander of the First Army was Chen Jiongming, and the commander of the Second Army was Xu Chongzhi.
In the first Northern Expedition in 1922, Xu Chongzhi served as the commander-in-chief of the Northern Expedition (the commander-in-chief was Li Liejun) and went north to attack the warlord Wu Peifu, but returned because of Chen Jiongming's rebellion. Sun Yat-sen, who was besieged in Guangzhou, pinned all his hopes on Xu Chongzhi, hoping that he would defeat Chen Jiongming. As a result, Xu Chongzhi did not grasp this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and was defeated by Chen Jiongming, causing Sun Yat-sen to have to hide on a warship.
In 1925, the revolutionary mentor Sun Yat-sen died, and the leadership of the revolutionary government in Guangdong underwent a major change. Hu Hanmin and Liao Zhongkai, who were most likely to succeed Sun Yat-sen, fell in love with each other, and finally cheapened the centrist Wang Zhaoming (i.e., Wang Jingwei). Because xu Chongzhi held military power, he became the object of Wang's co-optation, served as military minister and chairman of the Guangdong provincial government, and his personal career reached its peak.
On August 20, 1925, the infighting between the left and right factions of the Kuomintang finally led to the assassination of The Third Man of the Nationalist Government, Mr. Liao Zhongkai, Minister of Finance and Party Representative of the Whampoa Military Academy. After the case occurred, the Nationalist government formed a three-member temporary handling team composed of Wang Jingwei, Xu Chongzhi and Chiang Kai-shek, who was responsible for the investigation and handling of the Liao case and the dispatch of the army. After investigating and interrogating the killer, it was learned that the assassination of Mr. Liao Zhongkai was a conspiracy of the right wing of the Kuomintang. Kuomintang elders Hu Hanmin and Xu Chongzhi were involved in the case (the two may have known that their subordinates were plotting to murder Liao Zhongkai, but did not take a stand and did not stop it), and both were removed from power and faded out of the circle of political power.
At the time of the Liao case, with Xu Chongzhi's strength, he could completely oppose Wang Jingwei and Chiang Kai-shek by force, but the inherent loyalty of the military to the state and the government made him dispel this idea and silently leave the political whirlpool. Therefore, many historians have praised Xu Chongzhi as a rare and generous person.
After Xu Chongzhi left his post, he first stayed abroad for a while, and then traveled all over the country. In 1929, he led his family to Hong Kong and lived until his death (January 25, 1965). During this period, the National Government gave him a certain amount of care in his life, which was considered to be respect for this revolutionary elder.