He followed Chiang Kai-shek for twenty-two years, and many of Chiang Kai-shek's manuscripts were written by him. For example, Chiang Kai-shek's "Tribute to the Prime Minister" after the success of the Northern Expedition, the "Serving the Country and Loving Relatives" on the occasion of Chiang Kai-shek's fiftieth birthday, the "Xi'an Half Moon Chronicle" after the peaceful settlement of the Xi'an Incident in 1936, and the "Letter to the People" after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in 1937 were all ghostwritten by him for Chiang Kai-shek.
He was the famous Kuomintang penman Chen Bray.
Chen Bray, name Xun En, Zi Yan Ji, pen name Bray, Fear Lei. A native of Cixi, Ningbo, Zhejiang. In his early years, he studied at Cixi County Middle School, then transferred to Ningbo Fu Middle School, graduated from Zhejiang Higher School (the predecessor of Zhejiang University) in 1911, and worked as a reporter for Shanghai Tianduo Bao in the same year. Write reviews under the pseudonym "Bray". He joined the League in March 1912 and went to Shanghai in 1920 as the editor-in-chief of the Shang Bao. Later, he was the main writer of "Guowen Weekly".
He joined the Kuomintang in 1927. He successively served as secretary general of the Zhejiang Provincial Government, secretary general of the Party Department of the Kuomintang Central Committee, and editor-in-chief of the Current Affairs New Daily. He is also a professor at the China National Liberal Arts News Group (the predecessor of the Department of Journalism) of Fudan University, and teaches "Editorial Practices". Drafted documents for Chiang Kai-shek for a long time.
Because of his outstanding talent, Chen Brei enjoyed a high reputation in the newspaper circles in his 20s, and during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Chen Brei used a rafter's pen to write a number of good articles that stimulated national morale, and was the "leader's literary boldness" and "president's think tank" of the Kuomintang, known as "the first pen of the Kuomintang." He is a highly concerned and controversial figure in China's modern history.
In that year, after the Xi'an Incident, Zhang Xueliang personally accompanied Chiang Kai-shek back to Nanjing from Xi'an, spending the night in Luoyang on the way. Chiang Kai-shek stayed at the Luoyang Military Academy. In the evening, Chiang Kai-shek dictated carelessness, and Chen Bray waved more than 3,000 words of "Instructions to Zhang Yang" that night. The next day, as soon as Chiang Kai-shek arrived in Nanjing, he immediately handed over the "Instructions to Zhang Yang" to the newspapers for publication. This article is actually Chiang Kai-shek's statement on the current situation after the Xi'an Incident.
After that, Chiang Kai-shek published the "Half Moon Chronicle of Xi'an" that was concerned by all parties, which was also Chen Bray's knife for it based on Chiang Kai-shek's diary and Chiang Kai-shek's dictation.
On July 19, 1937, Chiang Kai-shek declared in his "Last Moment" at the Lushan Talk: "If you give up your land and sovereignty, you will be a sinner of the Chinese nation throughout the ages." "If the war is over, then there will be no distinction between the north and the south, no distinction between the old and the young, and no matter who it is, it will have the responsibility of defending the territory and resisting the war." For a time, these few words spread throughout the land of China and played a positive role in promoting the all-people War of Resistance. This important speech by Chiang Kai-shek is also written by Chen Bray.
In 1924, Chiang Kai-shek served as the principal of the Whampoa Military Academy and the commander of the First Army of the National Revolutionary Army, holding the military power and gaining a firm foothold in the political and military circles. At this time, he began to feel that there were only military generals around him, and there was a lack of literate people. In the spring of 1926, when Shao Lizi went to Shanghai to work on the orders of the Kuomintang Central Committee, Chiang Kai-shek specially transferred a selected photograph of himself to Chen Brei to show his admiration.
On July 9, 1926, Chiang Kai-shek was inaugurated as commander-in-chief of the National Revolutionary Army in Guangzhou, and swore to serve in the Northern Expedition. The Northern Expedition was victorious, and Chiang Kai-shek led his troops into Nanchang. On February 1, 1927, on the night of the lunar Chinese New Year's Eve, Chen Bray and another famous reporter of the "Business Daily" Pan Gongzhan were invited to Nanchang. The next day, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, the two went to see Chiang Kai-shek together. Chen Brei thanked "Commander-in-Chief Chiang Kai-shek" for giving him a "jade photo," while Chiang Kai-shek said: "In the future, Chen Jun does not have to call me Commander-in-Chief. Because the commander-in-chief was the position of the army, Chen Jun was not a soldier. "
Chen Bray and Chiang Kai-shek saw each other as they always were, and they talked happily. Next, Chiang Kai-shek asked Chen Bray for a long talk again and again. One day, Chiang Kai-shek was anxious to write a "Letter to Huangpu Classmates," and Chen Brei immediately "drew his pen to help."Chiang Kai-shek dictated it, chen Bray grabbed the knife, and with one swing, he finished the manuscript, and Chiang Kai-shek was deeply satisfied. Chiang Kai-shek had the idea of keeping Chen Bray by his side.
Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek tried his best to keep Chen Bray, but in desperation, Chen Bray said: "Mr. Chiang, I still want to go back to Shanghai to work as a reporter and run a newspaper. Chen Brei was gone, and Jiang was very sorry.
Shortly after Chen Bray returned to Shanghai, Chiang Kai-shek led his troops into Shanghai. Immediately afterward, he launched the "April 12 Coup", and the Chinese Communist Party suffered severe persecution.
On April 18, 1927, Chiang Kai-shek established the National Government in Nanjing. Takefu ruled the country and was in urgent need of civilian assistance. At the warm invitation of Chiang Kai-shek, Chen Bray came to Nanjing from Shanghai in January 1928. Chiang Kai-shek was very happy because of Chen Brei's arrival, so how could he keep this great talent? Jiang wanted to appoint a high-ranking official, and Chen Bray replied: "At the beginning of Yu, he was willing to take journalism as a lifelong career, and if he could not get it, he was willing to be a public and private secretary, and the position did not have to be high, and Lu did not have to be thick, but he sought to be able to help the public a little, but if he wanted to hold an important position in the organs, it was not what he wanted." Since then, Chen Bray has become Chiang Kai-shek's personal secretary and important aide, known as "leader Wen Qian" and "president's think tank".
Later, Chen Brei worked at Chiang Kai-shek's side for a long time, and could not withstand Chiang Kai-shek's repeated persuasion, but still successively served as the secretary general of the Party Department of the Kuomintang Central Committee, the deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the Kuomintang Central Committee, the national policy adviser of the Presidential Office, and the acting secretary general of the Political Committee of the Kuomintang Central Committee.
Although on the surface Chen Bray was proud of the spring breeze, in fact, in the depths of his heart there was an unspeakable pain, especially when he had to write for Chiang Kai-shek.
What embarrassed Chen Brei the most was the writing of "Xi'an Half Moon" for Chiang Kai-shek. It was after the Xi'an Incident that Chiang Kai-shek returned to Nanjing to make the "truth" of the Xi'an Incident public and let the people of the world know how Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng "rebelled." In early 1937, Chiang Kai-shek, who was recuperating at the mouth of Fenghua Xikou, summoned Chen Bray, showed him his diary when he was imprisoned in Xi'an, and told him about his experiences in the Xi'an Incident. Chen Brei understood that the "Half Moon Chronicle of Xi'an" was difficult to write, so he pushed back: "I have not been to Xi'an, and I am not very clear about the chaotic process, I am afraid that it will be difficult for the leader to have high hopes." Chiang Kai-shek said, "It doesn't matter, you just write it as I said." "
On February 2, Chen Bray accompanied Chiang Kai-shek to Hangzhou, and Chiang Kai-shek again gave Chen Bray his diary to supplement his experience of the Xi'an Incident. Chen Bray could not disobey the order, so he had to write the "Half Moon Of Xi'an" for Chiang Kai-shek in extreme pain. A bitter Chen Bray confessed in his diary: "Yu's remarks and thoughts today cannot be asserted by himself. The shell and the soul have gradually become one with others. Life has instincts, who can be willing to do it! Since then, he has said many times, "I can't use my pen to reach what I say" and "it is painful to catch a knife for people." He once compared himself to "a woman who marries a man, and it is difficult to be a master"!
Chen Brei's inner pain intensified day by day, causing him to suffer a lot.
On November 12, 1948, Chen Bray said to his bodyguard, Tao, "I'm going to cut a haircut." After the haircut, he said to Deputy Tao: "I have to write some important things tonight, any guests are missing, the phone is not answered, you don't come up to urge me to sleep, I will take medicine to sleep after I write it." He went up the stairs, turned back halfway through, and added, "Let me be quiet!" "
The adjutant thought he was going to write an important article, so he thanked him and gave him a quiet environment. He was really writing behind closed doors, but what was written was his suicide note! Chen Brei wrote a suicide note to Chiang Kai-shek, in which he declared: "My heart is pure and straight, and I have no private thoughts except loyalty to my father." He left a suicide note to his wife, brothers, and friends. In the night, he took a lot of sleeping pills and left this world on the morning of November 13...
"Let me be quiet!" It became the last sentence left by Chen Bray.
It is said that there were two direct reasons for Chen Brei's death: First, in the face of the situation in which the Kuomintang army was defeated like a mountain, he once suggested to Chiang Kai-shek that peace talks be held with the Communists, but Chiang Kai-shek rebuked him and declared that "peace talks mean surrender." Second, at the meeting of the Kuomintang Central Committee on November 8, 1948, Chiang Kai-shek said that "it will take eight years to resist the war and eight years to suppress bandits." Chen Bray thought it was inappropriate to say this, and when he was sorting out the record of Chiang Kai-shek's speech, he deleted this remark, and was reprimanded by Chiang Kai-shek.
What annoyed Chiang Kai-shek the most was that on December 25, 1947, Mao Zedong gave a report entitled "The Present Situation and Our Tasks" at a meeting of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. In early 1948, the Kuomintang intelligence services put the text of Mao's report on Chiang Kai-shek's desk. Chiang Kai-shek carefully looked at it carefully, and just as Chen Brei came in, Chiang Kai-shek inadvertently said to Chen Brei: "Look at how well people's articles are written!" Chen Bray blurted out and said: "People's articles are written by themselves!" This sentence deeply stung Chiang Kai-shek's heart that loved vanity, and Chiang Kai-shek's feelings in his heart could be imagined.
After Chiang Kai-shek learned of Chen Bray's death, he immediately went to the scene to mourn, showing great regret. He wrote down the words "Contemporary Perfection" to mourn Chen Bray. Chiang Kai-shek spoke highly of Chen Bray: "Fearing rafters and pens, more than a million divisions," and "summarizing his life, his firmness in his deeds, his loyalty to the country, his respect for himself, and his honesty in his wealth are enough to be a model for humanity."
On November 14, 1948, the JoongAng Daily published a telegram from the Central News Agency, declaring:
Chen Brei died suddenly of a heart attack at 8 a.m. yesterday. After talking to his friends the night before, Chen still handled the manuscript, everything was as constant, and it was late to go to bed. Yesterday morning, because Chen Shi got up late, entered the room to save his vision, saw that the face was different, and urgently delayed the diagnosis and treatment of the doctor, found that his pulse had stopped, and the injection was ineffective. Chen is now 59 years old, weak in physical strength, heart disease and insomnia have a long history, and cannot sleep peacefully without taking medicine. I have been slightly tired in recent days; I am still working as usual, and I do not care. Unexpectedly, due to heart weakness, I suddenly couldn't afford to tell...
Four days later, on November 18, the Central News Agency reported in detail on the true circumstances of Chen Brei's death:
Mr. Bray suffers from neurasthenia, so that he often suffers from insomnia, and he must take three sleeping pills every night to fall asleep, sometimes wake up in the middle of the night, take a few tablets, and then sleep slightly, and always get up at about 7 a.m. in the morning. From the 13th of this month to 10:00 a.m., before he got up, secretary Jiang Junzhang pushed the door into the bedroom, saw that Mr. Bray's face was different, and urgently asked the presidential medical officers Chen Guangyu and Xiong Fan for treatment. At that time, Secretary Jiang found a suicide note next to Mr. Brei's pillow, instructed him not to summon a doctor for treatment, and instructed him to publish the news cautiously, so that the reactionaries should not fabricate rumors because of this action. Secretary Jiang obeyed his last words and published that Mr. Zhang died of insomnia and heart failure. Chen's family and the secretary's entourage inspected the relics, and found the president's letter two pieces in the official documents, and the letters distributed to Zhang Daofan, Hong Lanyou, Pan Gongzhan, Cheng Cangbo, Chen Fang, Li Weiguo, Tao Xisheng's friends, and the letters left to Mrs. Chen and gongzi, were successively submitted, and the friends successively sent them to the Chen Committee's Funeral Committee, and on the 15th, they found the miscellaneous notes of Chen's 11th handwriting, which were also submitted to the president for reading...
Chen Brei's death made Chiang Kai-shek feel a little sad in the midst of embattled songs.
Chen Brei has six men and two women, however, the eldest daughter Chen Xiu and the second daughter Chen Lian are both underground members of the CCP, which is also a bit unexpected, but did Chen Bree know about this before he died? I don't know. With Chen Bray's shrewdness, perhaps he sensed some clues to the fact that his two daughters were underground Communists, but they were just tacitly aware.