Podcasts about Fujian

When it comes to China, most Americans are mostly in the dark. Don't believe me? Just quiz your friends. Ask them to name the five largest cities in China. Or to tell you the difference between people in Fujian and Sichuan, or Beijing and Guangzhou? Or how many cars China exported last year.  Is China's economy booming on the back of record exports or reeling from a property meltdown and tanking consumer confidence? How many of us can say we know for sure. How many of us are in regular communication with people in China? Here to fill the void is Emily Feng, author of a tremendous new book called Let Only Red Flowers Bloom. Ms Feng brings to life the joys and sorrows, advances and setbacks of ordinary people in China. And she explains why, under Xi Jinping, people are encouraged to bloom red. 

Sometimes, people will say of a book that "the setting is another character". But what does that really mean, and how can a writer craft it? Ai Jiang joins us to discuss creating worlds and settings that have their own personalities! From the physical geography to the architecture, from the scale of the location to its dynamism, writers can make a lot of choices to make their setting feel unlike any other. The setting can do a lot to set the mood and tone of a story. Is it bright and peppy, or dark and gloomy? What's the vibe? The overlap between setting and aesthetic can be quite high, communicating a lot to your reader about what they might expect from the story and characters. We also often talk about how characters are the products of their circumstances -- and that means they're also products of their surroundings! What about the physical space that they exist in, or have existed in during their life, has shaped them? [Transcript TK] Our Guest: Ai Jiang is a Chinese-Canadian writer, Ignyte, Bram Stoker, and Nebula Award winner, and Hugo, Astounding, Locus, Aurora, and BFSA Award finalist from Changle, Fujian currently residing in Toronto, Ontario. Her work can be found in F&SF, The Dark, The Masters Review, among others. She is the recipient of Odyssey Workshop's 2022 Fresh Voices Scholarship and the author of A Palace Near the Wind, Linghun and I AM AI. Find her on X (@AiJiang_), Insta (@ai.jian.g), and online (http://aijiang.ca). 

Today, we'll talk about Fujian tulou, an iconic Hakka architectural marvel, which is globally recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, embodying a blend of historical resilience and cultural preservation.

Achat d'influenceurs taiwanais, expulsion d'épouses chinoises prônant l'invasion, scandales d'espionnage dans l'armée, liens troubles d'hommes politiques qui multiplient les voyages en Chine. À Taïwan, les scandales autour du Front uni, le réseau d'influence de Pékin sur l'île, se multiplient, et la société taïwanaise est sur le qui-vive. De notre envoyé spécial à Taiwan,Panneau en bois vert dans la main, gilet blanc sur les épaules sur lesquels sont inscrits les mêmes caractères « Ba mian ». Cette expression désigne le mouvement de révocation historique qui traverse l'île, où fleurissent ces rassemblements pour récolter les signatures nécessaires pour éjecter de leur siège une trentaine de députés du KMT, le parti conservateur. Cette formation majoritaire au Parlement est accusée de « paralyser la cour constitutionnelle de baisser le budget, mais aussi d'être beaucoup trop proche de la Chine, résume Rebecca Guo, 33 ans. La jeune femme fait partie d'un mouvement citoyen récoltant le seuil de signatures nécessaires pour organiser une réélection dans sa circonscription de Xinzhu (Hsinchu), dans l'ouest du pays. « Le Kuomintang a des parlementaires élus dans notre pays, mais qui servent les intérêts du Parti Communiste Chinois ». Dans son viseur, notamment Fu Kun-chi, chef du KMT au Parlement, adepte des voyages sur le continent. « Ils ne reçoivent pas forcément de l'argent directement, mais des cadeaux, des produits qui viennent d'usines chinoises et cela met en danger la démocratie taïwanaise ». La mutation de ce mouvement citoyen « Bamian », parti d'un rejet des blocages à l'assemblée à une dénonciation des infiltrations chinoises, est symptomatique de l'importance prise par le sujet ces derniers mois à Taiwan.Faire infuser l'idée de l'unificationPourtant cette stratégie d'influence de Pékin, mise en place par le Front uni n'est pas nouvelle. « L'idée est de nouer des amitiés en dehors du Parti et les préserver pour appliquer ses objectifs politiques, explique Liu Wenbin, ancien chercheur au Bureau d'enquête du ministère de la Justice qui a passé près de 40 ans à travailler sur les infiltrations chinoises pour cela ils utilisent des relais différents comme les temples et Mazu». Cette déesse des océans fait l'objet d'un culte des deux côtés du détroit, et des centaines de milliers de taiwanais partent en pèlerinage dans la province chinoise du Fujian chaque année. Un culte qui a fait l'objet d'inquiétudes à Taiwan, car utilisée selon certains pour faire infuser l'unification dans l'esprit des 23 millions d'habitants de l'île. Des liens historiques, comme ceux qu'entretiennent les élus du KMT avec le continent, mais la succession d'affaires a de quoi interroger.En décembre, deux influenceurs ont publié un documentaire sur les méthodes du Front uni, le réseau qu'utilise le PCC (Parti Communiste Chinois), pour promouvoir l'arrivée de Taïwan sous son contrôle. Chen Bo-yuan, rappeur et créateur de contenus, a décidé après plusieurs années passées à défendre ouvertement l'unification sur les réseaux sociaux taiwanais, a décidé de retourner sa veste et de piéger ses anciens partenaires. Il révèle comment le Front uni achète des influenceurs taiwanais pour faire infuser son discours. « Des officiels en Chine me disaient : « tu as vu ce qui se passe à Taiwan ? Tu peux faire une vidéo ? Et comme ça je faisais une chanson ou un clip pour critiquer le gouvernement ou les États-Unis », explique Chen Bo-yuan à RFI. En revenant en Chine, il rencontre un intermédiaire qui assure que la Chine imprime des cartes d'identité chinoises à de jeunes Taiwanais, attirés sur le continent pour créer leur entreprise.Trois fois plus de cas d'espionnageEn janvier, un général à la retraite a été mis en examen avec cinq complices pour « violation de la sécurité nationale », accusé d'avoir été mandaté par la Chine pour réunir des forces à l'intérieur du pays en cas d'invasion. L'année dernière, 64 personnes ont été inculpées pour espionnage au service de la Chine, trois fois plus qu'en 2021. Une affaire en décalage avec ce que l'avocat spécialisé sur les affaires dans l'armée, Nie Rui-yi a constaté dans ses dossiers. « Avant, le PCC visait surtout des soldats en service actif, avec des grades moyens ou élevés pour obtenir des renseignements, explique l'ancien juge à la Cour martiale, maintenant quel que soit votre rang, votre statut militaire, ils s'intéressent à vous. Que ça soit pour développer le réseau à l'intérieur de Taïwan, ou simplement pour filmer une vidéo en uniforme où le soldat prête allégeance au Parti pour leur guerre psychologique, tout les intéresse ».La semaine dernière, Yaya à Taiwan, une influenceuse chinoise a vu son permis de résidence sur l'île annulé, après avoir défendu une invasion de l'île. Les affaires politiques, elles, et les accusations de corruption d'élus au profit de Pékin sont fréquentes, notamment venus du camp démocrate (DDP). Alors face aux difficultés que représente une invasion, est-ce que la Chine a intensifié ses efforts pour une absorption douce de Taiwan ? «Difficile de déterminer, répond Liu Wen-bin. Est-ce qu'ils infiltrent plus ? Ou est-ce que nos capacités à les détecter se sont améliorées ?»Face à l'émoi collectif, particulièrement au sein de son propre camp le président Laï Qing-de, « un dangereux séparatiste », selon Pékin, a annoncé en mars 17 mesures pour lutter contre les tentatives d'absorption douce de l'île. Parmi elles, la restriction des conditions de visas pour les résidents chinois, une enquête sur les fonctionnaires qui disposent de cartes d'identité chinoises et sur les voyages d'élus vers le continent, mais aussi le retour des tribunaux militaires, vieil héritage de la dictature, afin de juger les espions dans l'armée. Une dérive dangereuse pour le KMT, « notre gouvernement ne peut pas utiliser cela comme excuse pour restreindre nos libertés, assure Chance Hsu, directeur adjoint des Affaires internationales du parti. Nous estimons que soutenir l'unification reste dans le domaine de la liberté d'expression ». Le jeune homme met en garde face à une rupture trop forte des liens avec Pékin, qui, face à son incapacité de séduire Taiwan grâce à la méthode douce, pourrait avoir recours à la force.

Last time we spoke about the January 28th Incident. In January of 1932, tensions escalated in Shanghai as anti-Japanese sentiments surged after Japan's invasion of Manchuria. Orchestrated by Yoshiko Kawashima, a Japanese spy, a provocation led to violence, sparking outrage among Japanese expatriates. Japan demanded apologies and compensation from China, threatening military action if their demands were unmet. As the Japanese military amassed forces in Shanghai, the Chinese 19th Route Army prepared to resist, igniting the conflict known as the January 28th Incident, marking the beginning of a fierce struggle for control. Amidst chaos, the Nanjing government struggled to respond to Japan's escalating aggression in Shanghai. Chiang Kai-Shek prioritized avoiding war, urging a diplomatic approach to protect Shanghai's economy. Despite pressure, the 19th Route Army was ordered to withdraw, but tensions flared when Japan attacked the Chinese garrison. The 19th Route Army fiercely resisted, leading to intense battles. As Japan sent reinforcements, Chiang faced mounting protests and criticism for his passive stance, questioning whether he could maintain his strategy against the encroaching enemy.   #144 The First Battle of Shanghai 1932 Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. In the last episode we covered the January 28th Incident. At 11:30 pm on January 28, Japan ordered 2,300 Japanese Marines to advance westward along every branch road on the west side of North Sichuan Road, without waiting for a response. This road, which crosses into the northern area of the International Settlement and has frequently been designated as a Japanese defense zone, includes Target Road (now known as Wujin Road in Hongkou District, Shanghai), Qiujiang Road, and Yokohama Road. Their objective was to seize the Songhu Railway defense line at Tiantong'an Station. They faced strong resistance from the 19th Route Army, further escalating the conflict. In the early hours of the 29th, Japanese aircraft launched from the Notoro seaplane carrier, which was moored on the Huangpu River, attacked the Chinese district of Zhabei. Both the Commercial Press located at No. 584 Baoshan Road and the Oriental Library, the largest private library in China with over 300,000 books, were completely destroyed. That same day the 19th Route Army sent a telegram to the entire nation concerning the situation: Do forgive me it's a rough translation “Urgent. Dear Sir and Madam, the Japanese have occupied our three northeastern provinces, changing the color of our territory and making our nation perish. Recently, they have killed and set fire in Shanghai, and vagrants are everywhere, doing the most despicable and violent things in the world. Gunboats are coming one after another, and the Marines are all landed. At 12:00 a.m. on the 28th, they openly invaded our defense line in Zhabei, Shanghai, and challenged us. Guang Nai and others are soldiers, and they only know that it is their duty to defend themselves and defend their land. They cannot give up even an inch of land or an inch of grass. They resist to save the country and protect the race. Even if they sacrifice only one person and one bullet, they will never retreat and lose the personality of the soldiers of the Republic of China. This thing and this ambition are exposed to the sun and the sun and are known to the world. The spirits of our ancestors in heaven are truly relying on it”. On the morning of January 29, Chiang Kai-shek met with He Yingqin and Zhu Peide to discuss countermeasures. Simultaneously Zhu Peide convened a meeting with He Yingqin, Gu Zhutong, Li Jishen, Deng Shizeng, Lin Wei, and others to address issues such as defense deployment, the security of Nanjing and the Yangtze River, and resistance against Japan. Chiang Kai-Shek established the principles going forward for negotiations with Japan, emphasizing the need to prepare for talks while actively resisting. He stated that negotiations must have a clear final line of defense and a maximum limit that would not compromise administrative and territorial integrity, undermine the spirit of the Nine-Power Treaty, or jeopardize national sovereignty. If these limits were exceeded and unacceptable concessions were made, a decisive battle would be fought, even at the cost of defeat and death.  The defense and military strategy for Beijing and Shanghai included the 19th Route Army defending Shanghai with full strength, while the front guard army consisting of the 87th and 88th divisions would protect Nanjing. He Yingqin would remain in Nanjing, overseeing all party, government, and military personnel left behind. Chiang, along with the Central Political Council of the Kuomintang, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the National Government, and Chen Mingshu, all expressed their commitment to resisting Japanese aggression. Chiang also sent a telegram to He Chengjun, director of the Hubei Province Pacification Office, and Xu Tingyao, commander of the Fourth Division, stating "Last night, the Japanese invaders attacked our 19th Route Defense Line in Zhabei, Shanghai, and the battle is ongoing. Our army is determined to fight to the death. Their naval forces in Han and Xun will likely engage in military operations. We urge you to remain vigilant and defend yourselves, never yielding to them. The Fourth Division should concentrate on strict defense in Wuhan and avoid dispersal. If military funds become scarce, local governments will need to raise them independently." The National Government Military Committee appointed Chiang Kai-shek, Feng Yuxiang, Yan Xishan, and Zhang Xueliang as members responsible for mobilizing the army and commanding the Shanghai War. Chiang Kai-Shek officially resumed power after resigning to prevent a surrender and committed to a prolonged resistance. On January 30, the Chinese Nationalist Government announced the relocation of the capital to Luoyang. Chiang Kai-shek sent a telegram urging resistance against the Japanese and dispatched the elite Fifth Army to reinforce Shanghai. That night, Dai Ji, the commander of the Songhu Garrison, took charge of military operations in Shanghai, overseeing the 19th Route Army. The commander-in-chief was Jiang Guangnai, with Cai Tingkai as the army commander and division commanders Qu Shounian, Mao Weishou, and Shen Guanghan. Chiang Kai-Shek then issued a telegram to his troops across the nation and again I apologize for the rough translation. "Since the Northeast Incident began, the Central Government has been enduring humiliation and maintaining peace in order to avoid war and protect the lifeline of the country. It hopes to use justice and fairness to awaken the Japanese pirates. Unexpectedly, the more we tolerate, the more arrogant they become. When the Shanghai Incident occurred, we accepted their demands with great pain, but the Japanese pirates still brazenly pressed on, repeatedly attacking our Shanghai Defense Force, bombing civilian houses, throwing bombs on the streets, and our compatriots were ravaged. The country is about to perish. Anyone with blood in his veins would rather endure it. Since the 19th Route Army has risen up to defend itself bravely, our entire army In this time of national destruction and extinction, when the revolutionary soldiers are facing imminent danger, they should fight for the dignity of the country, strive for the survival of the nation, fulfill their responsibilities for the revolution, and be determined to die rather than live in disgrace, so as to deal with the brutal Japan that destroys peace and despises faith and integrity... Chiang Kai-shek and his comrades have shared hardships for a long time. Although I am now in the opposition, I am willing to swear to live and die with the soldiers and fulfill my bounden duty. I am here to inform you in advance with my blood and sincerity, and ask you to be determined and work hard, share the same hatred with the enemy, do not be arrogant, maintain the spirit of sacrifice, stay ready to fight, and save the country from danger." From that day on, the various ministries, commissions and committees of the National Government began to move to Luoyang, but the Military Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs remained in Nanjing . At the same time, the frontline troops were ordered to be jointly commanded by the Minister of Military Affairs He Yingqin and the Chief of the General Staff Zhu Peide.  Typically Chinese sources breakdown what is known as the First Battle of Shanghai into three phases. In the previous episode we looked through the event up until the point of the first phase. After the initial fighting, both the 19th route army and Japanese agreed to a ceasefire so they could strengthen their positions and at least allow some form of diplomacy to occur. This went into effect on the 29th. As we mentioned, immediately afterwards the Japanese rapidly began reinforcing their position in Shanghai. They first sent the Sasebo 26th Squadron on the 30th, bearing 474 troops of the Sasebo 3rd Special Marine Corps alongside supplies. The next day the aircraft carriers Kaga and Hosho came over with 30 aircraft from the 1st air fleet. Then the cruisers Naka, Yura and Abukuma alongside 4 torpedo boats came bearing another 2000 marines. On February 1st the Terukoku Maru brought over the Yokosuka 1st Special Marine corps, roughly 525 men who landed at Huishan Wharf. With all that said and done, roughly 7000 Japanese troops had been brought over. On February 1st, the IJN warships began bombarding Nanjing from the Yangtze River, prompting Yu Jishi to frantically demand Chiang Kai-Shek transfer more troops to Shanghai. That night the Japanese light cruiser Tenryu, the protected cruisers Hirado and Taima, and the seven ships of the Navy's 23rd Destroyer Squadron fired upon Nanjing using four 140mm guns, 12 152mm single-mounted rapid-fire guns, 12 120mm single-mounted guns, and 20 76mm single-mounted rapid-fire guns. The rich and officials fled the city for refuge, but the Japanese army did not land any men to follow up the attack. Simultaneously 40,000 Shanghai workers from over 20 Japanese owned cotton mills began an anti-Japanese strike, being heavily backed by Communists. The workers began aiding the 19th route army to blockade the Japanese in the factories and streets and sabotage what they could.  On February 2nd, the Japanese army attacked Wusong several times, but was repelled each time. On the 3rd the Japanese expanded their attacks against Zhabei, Baziqiao and other locations, but the Chinese defenders successfully repelled these assaults as well. On the 4th, the Japanese launched their first major offensive, which extended the conflict to Jiangwan and Wusong. Following a day of intense fighting, the Wusong fort was destroyed by enemy bombardment; however, the Japanese army was unable to land due to the determined resistance of the Chinese defenders. The anti-aircraft artillery company from the 88th Division, reassigned to the 4th Regiment of the 156th Brigade of the 19th Route Army, managed to shoot down a Japanese aircraft. After the failure of the general offensive, Yukiichi Shiozawa was dismissed and sent back to Japan. Vice Admiral Yoshisaburo Nomura, the newly appointed commander of the Third Fleet, succeeded Shiozawa. After Nomura assumed his role, the Japanese army began to bolster its forces. Japan had initially planned to deploy troops when tensions escalated in Shanghai, but the navy had opposed this move. However, as the situation deteriorated, the navy was compelled to seek assistance from the army. On February 2, the Japanese cabinet officially decided to send troops. In response to the urgent circumstances in Shanghai, they resolved to dispatch the Shanghai Dispatch Mixed Brigade, led by Brigade Commander Major General Shimomoto Kuma, along with the 9th Division, commanded by Lieutenant General Ueda Kenkichi. The Shanghai Dispatch Mixed Brigade and the Second Independent Tank Squadron were prioritized for transport. Concurrently, the Japanese Navy also sent the Yokosuka 2nd Special Marine Corps to Shanghai. The 24th Mixed Brigade landed in Wusong on the afternoon of February 7. By this time, the combined forces of the Japanese navy, army, and air force had exceeded 10,000 personnel. At dawn on February 8, the Japanese Army's 24th Mixed Brigade launched an attack on Zhanghuabang, Yunzaobang, and Wusong Town along three routes, but they were repelled by our forces. Meanwhile on February 4, the National Government Military Commission sent out a telegram that divided the country into four defense zones. The first zone, which includes the area north of the Yellow River, was assigned to Zhang Xueliang as the commander-in-chief. The second zone, covering the area south of the Yellow River, was placed under the command of Chiang Kai-shek. The third zone, encompassing the area south of the Yangtze River as well as Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, was led by He Yingqin. The fourth zone, which includes Guangdong and Guangxi, was commanded by Chen Jitang. The telegram also stated that, aside from maintaining troops for local stability, all commanders were to concentrate their forces within their respective defense zones to confront the aggressive Japanese. Additionally, a directive was issued for the provinces of Sichuan, Hunan, Guizhou, Hubei, Shaanxi, and Henan to send troops to serve as a general reserve. On February 5, upon learning that the Japanese army had been redeployed from mainland China to Shanghai, Chairman of the Military Commission Chiang Kai-shek sent a telegram from Luoyang to He Yingqin. He instructed that if the Japanese forces landed, the Chinese Air Force would engage in combat. Additionally, Chiang sent a message of condolence to Jiang Guangnai, Cai Tingkai, and Dai Ji of the 19th Route Army, stating "Brothers, you have been fighting valiantly for a week. Each time I reflect on the tremendous sacrifices made by the soldiers and their dedication, I feel a deep sadness... If necessary, Zhong (Zheng) can come to lead in person. When the Air Force enters the fray, the Army must establish various signals in advance to communicate with it and ensure coordinated efforts..." On the same day, the 88th Division arrived in Suzhou. On February 6, Chiang ordered the 261st Brigade of the 87th Division to move from Nanjing to reinforce Kunshan. The troops reached Kunshan on February 7. On February 8, Chiang directed He Yingqin to transfer an artillery battalion to support the 19th Route Army. Then, on February 9, Chiang Kai-shek mobilized the First Division, led by Commander Hu Zongnan, and the Seventh Division, commanded by Wang Jun, to prepare for reinforcement of the 19th Route Army in Shanghai. February 8th marks the second phase of the battle. On the 10th, to ensure that the 88th Division of the Central Army complied with the orders from the 19th Route Army of the Guangdong Army, Chiang Kai-shek sent a telegram to Yu Jishi insisting that "your troops must strictly follow the commands of Commander-in-Chief Chiang and coordinate their movements with allied forces." The Japanese Marine Corps, under Yukio Shiozawa, initiated a three-pronged encirclement attack from Hongkou. The National Army mounted a determined defense and ultimately repelled the Japanese forces, pursuing and destroying them, which significantly lowered their morale. On February 11, Chen Cheng, commander of the Central Army's 18th Army, sent a telegram to Chiang Kai-shek from Ji'an, Jiangxi, reporting that the troops had not been paid for nearly two months and were lacking food. At that time, the National Government was planning to redeploy the National Army that had been engaged in suppressing the Communists in Jiangxi to Zhejiang and Shanghai and to relocate the capital to Luoyang.  On February 12, following a battle at Caojiaqiao, the Japanese army's strategy to consolidate their forces was entirely disrupted. The next morning, February 13, the Japanese 24th Mixed Brigade crossed the Caojiaqiao Bridge in Zhuozaobang and engaged with the Nationalist army. Seizing the moment, the 19th Route Army Headquarters aimed to annihilate the Japanese forces. The Nationalist army surrounded the Japanese troops near the Yong'an Cotton Mill. Additionally, 60 members of a suicide squad launched a suicide attack, resulting in the complete destruction of 1,600 Japanese soldiers. The Japanese army faced significant losses, thwarting their attempt to swiftly capture Wusong. On February 14, Chiang ordered the 88th and 87th Divisions, which were already stationed in Nanxiang and Kunshan near Shanghai, to be reorganized into the Fifth Army. He appointed Zhang Zhizhong, a volunteer eager to fight against the Japanese, as the commander of the Fifth Army. This new army was placed under the unified command of the 19th Route Army and took over the defense line stretching from the northern end of Jiangwan through Miaoxing to the western end of Wusong. It served as the left-wing army, while the 19th Route Army acted as the right-wing, tasked with defending Jiangwan, the area south of Dachang, and the urban region of Shanghai. To replenish the 19th Route Army's losses, Chiang repeatedly ordered reinforcements from various locations. For instance, on February 15, Shangguan Yunxiang dispatched 500 active soldiers from Bengbu to the 19th Route Army; on February 17, Liang Guanying sent 500 unarmed soldiers from Qingjiangpu; and on February 19, Liu Zhi contributed 1,000 active unarmed soldiers from Henan. On February 16, Chiang Kai-shek communicated with Finance Minister Song Ziwen via telegram, stating, "Since the Japanese refuse to withdraw their troops from Shanghai, we must resist until the end. ... Food supplies in Jiangxi and Henan will dwindle, and assistance will be completely halted. Please arrange to deposit 10 million yuan in central banknotes in Nanchang and 20 million yuan in Zhengzhou. This will allow the government to continue functioning, the army to be sustained, and perhaps we can navigate this crisis and avert collapse. This is my final request. I hope you can find a way to assist." To prevent any friction between the Fifth Army and the Nineteenth Route Army over competing for military accolades, Chiang Kai-shek sent a telegram to Zhang Zhizhong and Yu Jishi on February 18. "The fight against Japan is a matter of national survival and is not a matter of honor for an individual or a certain unit. Our frontline officers and men should fully understand this. Therefore, the honor of the 19th Route Army is the honor of our entire National Revolutionary Army. There is absolutely no distinction between honor and disgrace. The Fifth Army's joining the front line is feared by the enemy and will also be slandered by the reactionaries (those who oppose the Nanjing Central Government). If we can continue to fight in the name of the 19th Route Army, it will be enough to demonstrate the strength of our National Revolutionary Army. We will share life and death, let alone honor and disgrace. I hope that this will be conveyed to the officers and men of the Fifth Army. They must unite and fight with our 19th Route Army and make no sacrifices to complete the revolutionary mission." Over on the other side, following reports of significant losses suffered by the Japanese army in Wusong, Tokyo received an imperial decree from Emperor Hirohito demanding the Shanghai incident get settled quick. In response, Chief of Staff Zairen urgently ordered the 9th Army Division, commanded by Ueda Kenkichi, to swiftly reinforce Shanghai. By the afternoon of February 13, the main contingent of the 9th Division had arrived at Shanghai Port, and by February 16, all personnel had disembarked in Wusong. Consequently, Lieutenant General Ueda took over command from Nomura. At this point, the Japanese invading forces comprised over 30,000 troops from naval, land, and air units, along with 60 to 70 field artillery pieces, more than 60 aircraft, and dozens of ships concentrated at the Wusong mouth. Ueda issued a statement late on the night of the 13th, asserting, "If anyone obstructs our division from fulfilling its mission, we will take decisive action without hesitation." On the 18th, he sent an ultimatum to Cai Tingkai, demanding, "Your army must immediately cease hostilities and withdraw from the following areas by 5:00 p.m. on February 20: on the west bank of the Huangpu River, retreat from areas connecting the western end of the concession, Caojiadu Town, Zhoujiaqiao Town, and Pushong Town to the north; on the east bank, withdraw from areas connecting Lannidu and Zhangjialou Town to the north, and retreat to a zone 20 kilometers away from the border of each concession Additionally, all military installations in the specified areas must be dismantled and no new ones established. If these demands are not met, the Japanese army will have no choice but to act freely against your forces, and your army will bear all resulting consequences." In response to Ueda's ultimatum, Tsai and Chiang ordered their front-line troops to fire heavily at Japanese positions as a warning. On the morning of February 20, Ueda commanded a full-scale attack across the front, employing tactics to break through the center while flanking from both sides. The 9th Division led the assault on the junction of Jiangwan and Miaohang, aiming to encircle Wusong from the north with the Kurume Brigade and Zhabei with the Marine Corps from the south. The Japanese began with artillery bombardments, followed by infantry and tank assaults on the Zhanghuabang and Yangshupu lines, both of which were successfully repelled by Chinese defenders. Over a thousand Japanese soldiers and several tanks in Zhabei were killed or wounded due to landmines. On February 21, Ueda personally directed thousands of infantry, supported by aircraft and artillery, to attack the Chinese defensive positions. Both sides incurred heavy casualties, and the battle continued until dawn on the 23rd. The Japanese forces attempted to encircle Jiangwan Town from Jiangwan Station, but the Chinese defenders fought valiantly, launching multiple charges and capturing Japanese Major Kong Sheng along with hundreds of soldiers. Ultimately, the Japanese army was unable to withstand the resistance and began to retreat. After the Japanese 9th Division arrived in Shanghai, it prepared to initiate a second major assault on the defenders of the city. The strategy involved a comprehensive attack stretching from Zhabei to Wusong to contain the Chinese army's strength, with primary forces concentrated on Jiangwan and Miaohang. The goal was to seize these two strategic points, achieve a breakthrough in the center, sever the link between the 5th Army and the 19th Route Army, and then defeat them individually. At dawn on February 20, the Japanese dispatched over ten aircraft for reconnaissance and bombing missions over the Miaohang area. Naval artillery and heavy army cannons heavily shelled the Miaohang positions. Simultaneously, Japanese artillery bombarded the Yunzaobang area in an effort to force a crossing and facilitate the Miaohang offensive.   By 9 am, part of the Japanese forces advanced towards the Xiaochang Temple and the Maijiazhai position, immediately conducting a fire search on our troops' positions. At noon, 3,000 Japanese soldiers launched an attack against our forces. The officers and soldiers of the 527th Regiment, defending the Maijiazhai and Zhuyuandun positions, mounted a counterattack, marking the beginning of the Battle of Miaohang. After three hours of intense fighting, the Japanese suffered significant casualties and were unable to continue, retreating to their original positions. Following this, over 2,000 Japanese troops attacked the Xiaochang Temple and Jinjiatang positions. The officers and soldiers of the 523rd Regiment, taking cover in the trenches, launched counterattacks and successfully repelled the Japanese forces. As dusk fell, the Japanese infantry halted their assaults, but naval and land artillery continued to bombard our positions in an attempt to weaken our defenses and personnel for a renewed attack the following day. On February 21, Japanese artillery relentlessly shelled the positions of the 88th Division of the Fifth Army in Miaohang. Following this, thousands of Japanese infantry launched an assault on the Yanjiazhai and Miaohang Town front. As the Japanese forces advanced, the officers and soldiers of the 523rd and 524th Regiments bravely counterattacked and successfully repelled them. However, a significant number of enemy troops coordinated a comprehensive assault on the Maijiazhai, Zhuyuandun, Xiaochangmiao, and Yanjiazhai lines south of Miaohang. Our 523rd, 524th, and 527th Regiments engaged in intense combat with the enemy, particularly at the Zhuyuandun front near Maijiazhai and Xu Xu, where the fighting was especially fierce. After a day of conflict, the enemy was temporarily pushed back. On February 22, the Japanese 9th Division launched a full-scale attack on the Miaohang position held by the 88th Division of the Fifth Army. Throughout the day, aircraft bombed the Chinese defenders, and thousands of artillery shells were fired at them. However, under the direct command of Zhang Zhizhong, the enemy faced a devastating defeat due to the coordinated three-pronged assault by the Sun Yuanliang Brigade, the Song Xilian Brigade, and the 61st Division of the 19th Route Army. The Miaohang position was ultimately saved from peril, inflicting heavy casualties on the elite forces of the Japanese 9th Division and the Kurume Mixed Brigade. This victory became known as the "Miaohang Victory." In the days that followed, the enemy continued their bombardment and attacks but were consistently repelled by the defenders. The Japanese army suffered significant losses, shifting from an all-out offensive to a more focused approach before ultimately halting their attacks. By the 25th, Ueda's overall offensive strategy had also failed. On February 24, the Japanese army decided to escalate the conflict once more, transferring the 11th and 14th divisions from Japan to join the Shanghai Expeditionary Force, which included troops already engaged in the war. At that time, the flagship of the Japanese Navy's Third Fleet, the Izumo, sustained damage from a bombing raid carried out by the suicide squad of the 19th Route Army, which sent shockwaves through Japan. Additionally, the large troop presence made a quick resolution to the war impossible. Consequently, on the 23rd, the Japanese cabinet decided to promptly reinforce the army. The General Staff then established the Shanghai Expeditionary Army Command, appointing General Shirakawa Yoshinori, the former Minister of War in the Tanaka Cabinet, to replace Ueda. They dispatched the 11th Division (led by Lieutenant General Atsutarou Atsuto), the 14th Division (led by Lieutenant General Naoaki Matsuki), and over 100 aircraft to China to initiate a larger-scale offensive in Shanghai. After several reinforcements, the Japanese forces in Shanghai, under Shirakawa's command, grew to over 90,000 troops, supported by 80 warships and 300 aircraft, significantly enhancing their combat effectiveness. In contrast, the total strength of the Chinese defenders was less than 50,000, with inadequate equipment. After a month of intense fighting, the Chinese forces had suffered heavy losses, leaving their river defenses in the Taicang Liuhe area vulnerable. Learning from the failures of the previous three commanders' frontal assaults, Shirakawa opted to land at Liuhe and flank the Songhu defenders. He directed the 9th Division and other units to launch a direct attack on Songhu and Shanghai while using the 3rd Fleet to escort the 11th Division into the Yangtze River estuary. They executed surprise landings at Liuhekou, Yanglinkou, and Qiyakou, quickly outflanking the defenders. On March 1, the Japanese forces initiated attacks in Naobei, Jiangwan, and Miaohang, employing heavy artillery, field guns, and aircraft for continuous bombardment. The infantry capitalized on this to engage in close-quarters combat, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides. Meanwhile, Shirakawa secretly instructed the 11th Division to exploit the weakness of the Chinese troops in Liuhe, forcibly landing at Qiyakou, Yanglinkou, and Liubinkou, ultimately capturing Liuhe. The fall of Liuhe posed a significant threat to the flank and rear of the Chinese army, compelling the entire force to retreat to the second line of defense (the Jiading-Huangdu line) by the evening of March 1.  After 34 days of intense fighting, they were forced to retreat to their second line of defense. At this point, the war had entered its final phase, resulting in a stalemate between the two sides. On the 2nd, the Japanese army seized Shanghai, and by March 3, they occupied Zhenru and Nanxiang, subsequently announcing a ceasefire. Now while we have been focused on the Japanese and Chinese perspectives in this, the international community was also heavily involved in the background. After the outbreak of hostilities, the British and American consuls in Shanghai offered to mediate. However despite a ceasefire being implemented the hostilities continued. So on February 2nd, Britain, America, France, Italy and Germany sent a notice to China and Japan "proposing to stop the conflict; (1) both sides immediately stop all violent acts according to the following conditions; (2) there will be no mobilization or preparation for any hostile acts between the two countries; (3) the Chinese and Japanese combatants in Shanghai will withdraw from the contact points; (4) a neutral zone will be established to separate the combatants of both sides to protect the public concession. The area will be garrisoned by neutral military and police, and various methods will be formulated by the consular corps; (5) once the two countries accept the treaty, they will not make any demands or reservations in advance, but will quickly negotiate with the assistance of neutral observers or participants in accordance with the spirit of the Kellogg-War Pact and the December 9th League of Nations resolution to resolve all outstanding issues..." Nanjing generally accepted the terms, but Japan instead proposed non-military zones be established 20 miles around the major ports of Shanghai, Hankou, Tianjin, Qingdao and Guangzhou as a sort of counter proposal. Meanwhile at the League of Nations, Yan Huiqing was drawing attention to the Shanghai incident, obviously linking it to the Manchuria incident and advocated for Article 10 of the League of Nations Charter, which was in regards to respecting territorial integrity and political independence of league nations. The League of Nations agreed and organized a committee to investigate the Shanghai incident. On February 4th Chiang Kai-Shek would write in his diary "As long as we do not lose our national sovereignty and territory, and the Japanese invaders do not put forward unacceptable conditions, we can take advantage of the opportunity of British and American intervention to negotiate with them; we cannot take a tough stance when other countries intervene, which will lead to adverse effects." By late February US Secretary of State Henry Stimson warned Japan for the second time, that the Nine Power Treaty and other treaties had to be maintained. Then on the 23rd he sent a letter reiterating the nine-power treaty and Kellogg War Pact to the League of Nations in regards to the Shanghai situation. On the 29th, a four-point plan for mediating the Shanghai incident was adopted at the League of Nations. The objective was to swiftly establish a local ceasefire agreement with the assistance of civil and military officials from various countries present in Shanghai. Following this, a round-table meeting was to be convened with representatives from nations with vested interests in Shanghai to discuss security measures for the International Settlement, the French Concession, and the local residents, as well as to address other issues. Subsequently, representatives from Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and other nations unanimously supported the plan, with Chinese representative Yan Huiqing and Japanese representative Sato Naotake also indicating their general agreement in principle. However, on March 2, the situation escalated when the Japanese army compelled the Chinese forces to retreat to their second line of defense. The Japanese side adopted a more aggressive stance, presenting four stringent conditions and insisting that the Chinese army withdraw first before halting their attacks. The Japanese forces were only willing to withdraw to the Shanghai and Wusong areas and refused to do so under the supervision of neutral countries, which the Chinese government firmly rejected. On March 3, the Japanese army launched another offensive. On that same day, U.S. Secretary of State Stimson summoned Japanese Ambassador to the United States Idebuchi, condemning Japan for accepting the League of Nations resolution on February 29 while simultaneously escalating military operations. On March 3rd a ceasefire came into effect as a formal meeting was held at the British consulate. The Chinese delegation was led by Guo Taiqi, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, along with military representatives Dai Ji, Huang Qiang, and seven others. The Japanese delegation included Shigemitsu Mamoru, Minister to China, and military representatives Ueda, Tashiro, and nine others. Officials from Britain, the United States, France, and other nations also participated in the meeting. During the negotiations, numerous contentious issues arose, particularly regarding the timing and location of the Japanese army's withdrawal. It would take until May 5th for a armistice agreement to be signed. The agreement designated Shanghai as a demilitarized zone, prohibiting China from stationing troops in the areas around Shanghai, Suzhou, and Kunshan, while permitting a limited number of Japanese units to remain in the city. China was permitted to maintain only a small police force within Shanghai. According to Chinese war reports, a total of 10,254 Japanese soldiers were killed or wounded in the Battle of Shanghai on January 28. According to Japanese data, a total of 3,091 Japanese soldiers were killed or wounded in the invasion of Shanghai: 620 Japanese soldiers were killed and 1,622 were wounded in the army; 149 Japanese soldiers were killed and 700 were wounded in the navy. Another Chinese report, stated the 19th Route Army and the Fifth Army suffered a total of 14,104 casualties 4,274 killed and 9,830 wounded. Among them, the 19th Route Army suffered 8,792 casualties, while the Fifth Army suffered 5,312 casualties. Shanghai residents faced bombardments from Japanese aircraft and artillery, resulting in over 6,080 fatalities, more than 2,000 injuries, 10,400 missing persons, and property losses totaling 1.6 billion yuan. At the onset of the war, the Japanese military intentionally targeted cultural institutions in Shanghai, such as the Commercial Press and the Oriental Library, leading to the total destruction of the Commercial Press, the oldest and largest publishing house in China. The Oriental Library, which housed millions of volumes, including over 100,000 rare ancient texts from the Song and Yuan dynasties and the Sikuquanshu compiled during the Qianlong era of the Qing Dynasty, was first devastated by artillery fire and then looted by Japanese forces. Reports from that time indicated that the Japanese army used trucks to transport the remaining books for seven consecutive days. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Thus what became known as the first battle of Shanghai had come to a not so swift end. Was its resolvement a victory for the League of Nations? Or was it just another indicator that the League of Nations was nothing but promises and pieces of paper? One man took notice of the Manchuria and Shanghai incidents, and he would soon bring Europe into a global war.  

基隆 jī lóng - Keelung (a city in northern Taiwan)旅遊景點 lǚ yóu jǐng diǎn - tourist attraction豐富 fēng fù - abundant; rich in variety基隆廟口夜市 jī lóng miào kǒu yè shì - Keelung miaokou night market攤販 tān fàn - street vendor; stall圍繞 wéi rào - to surround; to be around城鎮 chéng zhèn - town飲食文化 yǐn shí wén huà - food culture閩粵 mǐn yuè - min and cantonese (languages or cultures from Fujian and Guangdong provinces)隱藏 yǐn cáng - hidden巷弄 xiàng lòng - alleyways品嘗 pǐn cháng - to taste; to sample (food)和平島公園 hé píng dǎo gōng yuán - Heping Island Park壯麗 zhuàng lì - magnificent; majestic海岸線 hǎi àn xiàn - coastline獨特 dú tè - unique岩石 yán shí - rock地形 dì xíng - terrain; topography海蝕 hǎi shí - coastal erosion景觀 jǐng guān - scenery; landscape奇岩 qí yán - unusual rock formations礁石 jiāo shí - reef rock海浪 hǎi làng - ocean waves沖刷 chōng shuā - to erode; to wash away攝影愛好者 shè yǐng ài hào zhě - photography enthusiast大自然的探索者 dà zì rán de tàn suǒ zhě - nature explorer望幽谷 wàng yōu gǔ - Wangyou Valley被譽為 bèi yù wéi - to be praised as; to be known as如詩如畫 rú shī rú huà - picturesque; poetic and picturesque步道 bù dào - trail; walkway延伸 yán shēn - to extend; to stretch湛藍 zhàn lán - deep blue; azure無邊 wú biān - boundless; endless交織 jiāo zhī - to interweave; to intertwine拋開 pāo kāi - to throw away; to set aside煩憂 fán yōu - worries; troubles打卡點 dǎ kǎ diǎn - check-in spot (for social media)打卡 dǎ kǎ - to check in (on social media); to clock in日落 rì luò - sunset綠意盎然 lǜ yì àng rán - lush greenery; full of greenery畫面 huà miàn - scene; picture正濱漁港彩虹屋 zhèng bīn yú gǎng cǎi hóng wū - Zhengbin Fishing Port Nostalgia Pier漁村 yú cūn - fishing village漆上 qī shàng - to paint on五彩繽紛 wǔ cǎi bīn fēn - colorful; vibrant瞬間 shùn jiān - in an instant; instantly新亮點 xīn liàng diǎn - new highlightPlanning to travel or move to Taiwan? If you'd like to improve your Chinese before you go, feel free to book a one-on-one lesson with me.I'll help you improve your Chinese so you can settle in more comfortably when you arrive.Book a one-on-one trial lesson with me !

Send us a textIn today's episode, Alex talks with Ai Jiang, the author of multiple award-winning short fiction and the highly anticipated A PALACE NEAR THE WIND (releasing April 15th). Ai is a Chinese-Canadian writer, Ignyte, Bram Stoker, and Nebula Award winner, and Hugo, Astounding, Locus, Aurora, and BFSA Award finalist from Changle, Fujian, currently residing in Toronto, Ontario. She is the recipient of Odyssey Workshop's 2022 Fresh Voices Scholarship and the author of A Palace Near the Wind, Linghun, and I AM AI.Listen as they discuss who Ai's literary heroes are, her experimental storytelling inspiration and why A PALACE NEAR THE WIND utilizes a more traditional story structure, how she challenges herself as a writer to avoid getting stuck in old habits, and how to stay true to art in a literary landscape that is favoring the use of AI and fast-fashion esque publishing models. Due to character limitations, please find a full version of the show notes with applicable content warnings and links on our website at: https://www.tarakross.com/podcast-1→  Connect with Ai on her Instagram or visit her website → Pre-order or Buy A PALACE NEAR THE WIND  HEREThe Hope Prose Podcast's InstagramAlex's Instagram Tara's Instagram

In this special episode Randel and Owen hold their first Coaches Roundtable interview with master teachers Russ Smith and Kevin Secours.About Kevin Secours: ".....over 41 years of experience in the martial arts. I hold an 8th dan in Goshinbudo, 3rd dan in Kempo Jujitsu, 1st Dan in Akai Ryu Jujitsu, Full Instructorship in Shaolin Boxing and Senior Instructorship in Russian Systema. I'm the founder of Integrated Fighting Systems and the director of the International Combat Systema Association. "WebsiteYouTubeAbout Sifu Russ: "Russ expressed an interest in martial arts as a young teenager, and began learning Karate basics with a family friend. It wasn't until Russ was on extended vacation in the Philippines over thirty years ago that he began his formal training in Japanese Goju-Ryu under an Australian instructor, Sensei Iyan Mackenzie...Russ's desire to continue research on the origins and influences on Goju-Ryu has lead him to also study Fujian and Hakka arts such as Five Ancestor (Ngo Cho Kun / Wuzuquan), White Eyebrow (Pak Mei), and White Crane Boxing styles....Russ's focus is preserving, promoting, and researching the arts of Okinawa, Southern China, Malaysia, and the Philippines at his Burinkan dojo."⁠Website⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠Amazon⁠

China is estimated to have some 500 million basketball fans, more than 1 million basketball courts and 43 million NBA followers on the social media platform Weibo. But increasingly, grassroots basketball is gaining popularity in rural China. Amateur leagues from small towns have become viral sensations and have been dubbed the "VBA", the Village Basketball Association. Local authorities are eager to profit from the phenomenon and use it to promote rural revitalisation. FRANCE 24's Yena Lee, Yorben den Hartog and Jasmine Ling report from Fujian province.

Today, Sam Cooper, founder of the news outlet The Bureau, guest hosts Christopher Meyer, a former U.S. official and China expert during the Bush One and Two Administrations. Meyer currently serves as the head of the U.S. Micronesia Council and founded Wide Fountain, a platform for in-depth geopolitical analysis.  In this the second of a two-part episode, Sam and Christopher discuss PRC strategic corruption and political warfare. So, let's get started.  Sam Cooper's The Bureau: https://www.thebureau.news/ Christopher Meyer's Wide Fountain platform: https://widefountain.substack.com/ --- One CA is a product of the civil affairs association a and brings in people who are current or former military, diplomats, development officers, and field agents to discuss their experiences on the ground with a partner nation's people and leadership. We aim to inspire anyone interested in working in the "last three feet" of U.S. foreign relations.  To contact the show, email us at CApodcasting@gmail.com  or look us up on the Civil Affairs Association website at www civilaffairsassoc.org --- Great news! Feedspot, the podcast industry ranking system rated One CA Podcast as one of the top 10 shows on foreign policy. Check it out at: https://podcast.feedspot.com/foreign_policy_podcasts/ --- Special thanks to Cozy Ambience for a sample of "February Cafe Jazz - Instrumental Bossa Nova Music for Work, Study and Relax - Background Music" retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmq8Ht-sNwQ --- Today, Sam Cooper, founder of the news outlet The Bureau, guest hosts Christopher Meyer, a former U.S. official and China expert during the Bush One and Two Administrations. Meyer currently serves as the head of the U.S. Micronesia Council and founded Wide Fountain, a platform for in-depth geopolitical analysis.  In this the first of a two-part episode, Sam and Christopher discuss PRC strategic corruption and political warfare. So, let's get started.  Sam Cooper's The Bureau: https://www.thebureau.news/ Christopher Meyer's Wide Fountain platform: https://widefountain.substack.com/ --- One CA is a product of the civil affairs association a and brings in people who are current or former military, diplomats, development officers, and field agents to discuss their experiences on the ground with a partner nation's people and leadership. We aim to inspire anyone interested in working in the "last three feet" of U.S. foreign relations.  To contact the show, email us at CApodcasting@gmail.com  or look us up on the Civil Affairs Association website at www civilaffairsassoc.org --- Special thanks to Cozy Ambience for a sample of "February Cafe Jazz - Instrumental Bossa Nova Music for Work, Study and Relax - Background Music" retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmq8Ht-sNwQ --- Transcript 00:00:01    Introduction Welcome to the One CA Podcast. This is your host, Jack Gaines. One CA is a product of the Civil Affairs Association and brings in people who are current or former military, diplomats, development officers, and field agents to discuss their experiences on ground with the partner nation's people and leadership. Our goal is to inspire anyone interested in working the last three feet of foreign relations. To contact the show, email us at capodcasting@gmail.com. or look us up on the Civil Affairs Association website at www.civilaffairsassoc.org. I'll have those in the show notes. Today we welcome Sam Cooper, founder of the news outlet The Bureau, as he interviews Christopher Meyer, a former U.S. 00:00:44    SAM COOPER official and China expert during the Bush I and II administrations. Meyer currently serves as the head of the U.S. Micronesia Council and is the founder of Wide Fountain. a platform for in -depth geopolitical analysis. This is the first of a two -part episode. Sam and Christopher discuss PRC strategic corruption and political warfare. So let's get started. 00:01:07    SAM COOPER Today I'm excited to introduce Chris Myers. Chris is a longtime China expert and former U .S. government diplomatic and economic issues officer, and he explains how military intelligence and influence networks embedded deeply with organized crime are a central feature of the global strategy employed by the families that really are running communist China. And when I say that, we're going to discuss your research on the family of Xi Jinping, the Xi family, and you call it the Yezi clique. But first, tell our viewers your background in getting into China and your career. 00:01:46    CHRISTOPHER MEYER Thank you very much, Sam. I started a keen interest in China when I was 16. And I read the history of the opium wars and I was outraged. And I decided I wanted a career to be involved in business and diplomacy between the U .S. and China. And then as an undergrad student, I did research on the special economic zones. This was in the early 80s and the special economic zones were just announced. And my research led me to see the geopolitical aspects. There were some. across from Macau, across from Hong Kong, and across from Taiwan. So I sort of had an eye to that. And then I did business. I was, for five years, I was with a Fortune 500 company. And I had the opportunity to do some business in Xiaomon. And I saw some things that set off alarm bells in my mind. And I kind of filed that. And I had some experiences that informed my research later. I worked in the government in Bush 1 and Bush 2. I was involved in Indo -Pacific affairs. really helping American companies do business in the region, and then became a consultant to part of the government that administered our territories in the Pacific. So I saw some things there that, again, set off alarm bells in my mind. And in 2016, I happened to cross an old colleague who kind of gave me some more information. And basically from 2016 until 2022, I conducted a lot of independent research. I decided I wanted to know exactly what was going on because proxies in the region seemed emboldened to take on the U .S. And they didn't have a government portfolio, but they acted like they did. And so my research sort of started in Micronesia. I had the great opportunity to come across your book. You totally informed. parts of what I was looking at and kind of put the spotlight on what happened in Canada. And I kind of worked the two sides to the middle and conducted most recently research that kind of takes us from Mao Zedong's death until the 90s. And I believe that there was a click. I call it the yes, she click. There were scores to settle. There were powerful families that were on the cusp of greatness or recognition for all their good work, and they were purged. And it led some individuals to become extremely militant in their conduct of political warfare against the U .S. So that sort of sets the table for what we might be talking about. 00:04:28    SAM COOPER Yeah. So to get into this, let's start with the Ye family. They're mysterious, but for experts, they're very clearly a clan that has tremendous kingmaking power in China. So maybe let's start with who they are and then bridge into how they connect with Xi's father. 00:04:46    CHRISTOPHER MEYER So the patriarch, Lie Jianying, was literally the kingmaker of Mao Zedong. He came from Guangdong province, and he was involved in the very earliest movements of the Communist Party in China. And he fled one of those, I think it was the Guangzhou uprising, with Zhou Enlai, and they escaped to Hong Kong. So Ye Jianying is one of the original revolutionaries in China, and he had the title of Marshal Ye. And when he crossed paths with Mao Zedong, he was actually the aide -de -camp to a very powerful Communist Party operator out of Beijing who had an army of tens of thousands. And he rolled up to Mao and his very small group of long marchers and said, follow us, we're going to Sichuan province. And Mao was like, no, I don't think that's a safe bet. The locals are going to tear you up. And Ye Jianying kind of heard a truth in Mao and he deserted this powerful general and with him brought the code books. So Mao gets Ye Jianying and the code books and he's able to communicate with the Comintern. And lo and behold, that general did get wiped out in Sichuan. He returned to Mao's base. With a few thousand troops from then, Mao became the most powerful leader in the communist ecosystem. So Ye Jianying had a very high regard for Mao. Mao called him the savior of the Communist Party and the Communist Revolution. And so fast forward it right through the revolution. Ye gets a very top position as the party secretary for Guangdong province, the largest and economically most powerful province in the country. And Mao wants to conduct his land reform in Guangdong, just as he does everywhere. And it's a violent thing where landowners are hunted down and put to death. Yeah, because he was a native Cantonese, understood that the landowners in Guangdong were not of the same ilk as those throughout China. They actually worked the lands. They had a very cooperative relationship with labor. And he tried to resist. But Mao forced Lin Biao into Guangdong. And Ye lost his government role. And if he hadn't been in the military, he would have been completely out of power. But because he had a military portfolio, he was able to stay on the peripheries. And he was actually part of the small group that brought down the Gang of Four and ended the Cultural Revolution. So Ye Jianying went through the Mao Zedong grinder, but he did it so early in the 50s that he was able to... maintain power and have it going forward. Another Long March hero was Xi Jinping's father, Xi Zhong Chun. And his claim to fame in the Communist Party was he maintained security over the area where Mao was camped in Yan 'an. And he was able to provide Mao and his group with enough security that they could camp there through a winter and survive. Not only that, but he negotiated and he conducted diplomacy with the tribesmen in the Northwest, in Qinghai, in Xinjiang, and in Tibet. And he was loved. And he got a lot of rebels and insurgents among these minority populations to join the Communist Party. And Mao gave him great profs for that and referred to him as one of the heroes of the Three Kingdoms period. brilliant statesman who was able to ingratiate with the minorities and make them part of the Chinese nation. Unfortunately, though, Xi Jinping's father, Xi Zhongchun, he was purged, but he was purged later. He was purged in 1962. And from Xi Jinping's age nine until he was 25, Xi Jinping's father was under arrest. Without trial, it was just the culture revolution. He was under arrest because his office published a book that was deemed not flattering to Mao Zedong. Basically, he was promoting some thought within the Communist Party that Mao didn't like. So Xi's father is in jail from 62 to 78. And because Ye Senior and Xi Zhongchun had a relationship, Ye Jianying kind of became a godfather of sorts for Xi Jinping. Xi was sent to work in the countryside and he escaped and he tried to get back to Beijing and it wasn't safe for him to be reunited with his family. And Ye intervened. And Ye made sure that Xi joined the Communist Party, even though these tragedies were all around him, and made sure that he got the semblance of an education, although he really never did. He was a guide for Xi Jinping throughout his younger years. in place of his father. 00:10:02    Sam Cooper Before we continue how those families dovetail together, can you describe in China's political economy, what is the power of Marshal Ye? 00:10:13    CHRISTOPHER MEYER So in the 50s, he was jettisoned out of the political arena. His main work was in the PLA. He was a marshal and he became minister of defense in China. And he was responsible for procurement. And to sort of give you a sense, when the Korean War started, the United Nations put a blockade on trade with China because they were arming the North Korean army. Marshal Yeh was responsible for making sure that supplies got to North Korea. And that was a big role that he fulfilled. And his sons kind of brought that along. So it's curious because Marshal Yeh was one of the most powerful stars in the communist lineup, but he was also a minority. He was from Guangdong and he was a Haka Chinese. So some people would say that Haka Chinese within China, there's a lid sometimes on their ability to move up. And so perhaps he was never considered for the echelon, but he did arise very high. But in some ways, and his sons adopted this even more so, they had to become very combative. in their political dealings. But no doubt about it, Marshal Yeh had a chance to handle huge volumes of military supplies, and there was an opportunity to skim and generate great wealth, which probably was the case. The way that Marshal Yeh fulfilled the supply chains for the North Korean army was through organized crime. And it just happened that two of The individuals, Henry Falk and Stanley Ho, were also Hakka Chinese. And they became the kingpins of organized crime in Hong Kong and Macau. Both of them are on record as saying they made their fortunes supplying the Korean War. 00:12:15    SAM COOPER Right. So people that read my book are very familiar with Stanley Ho, according to U .S. government intelligence. the absolute king of Chinese international mafia with connectivity to casinos, banking, political influence operations in Canada, triad leadership in Canada. So I think we've set the table for the 90s in Guangdong, Fujian. Xi Jinping is now starting to come on the scene politically there. The Ye family, who were partners essentially of Xi's father. had a little bit of a godfather eye on Xi's movements within the party. We can say that they're the power behind a throne that they want to see continue to rise. So can you take us into the 90s, the sort of Stanley Ho connectivity to Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and how that combines the Hong Kong tycoons slash triad leaders with the communist powers in Fujian? 00:13:21    CHRISTOPHER MEYER Yes. Mao passed away in 78. Deng Xiaoping came to power. And Deng was all about economic reform and catching up to the West. So in southern China, Fujian and Guangdong province, Deng looked to Ye Jenying and his sons. His sons were in their 30s now. And he also looked to Xi Zhongshan. Xi Zhongshan became party secretary for Guangdong province. in the early 80s. And Deng kind of put together this group. The Ye's and the Xi's were family friends. They celebrated Chinese holidays together. The Xi's were northern Chinese, but they kind of encamped in Guangdong province after a certain amount of time. And that's where Xi's father retired. But in Guangdong, the son of Ye, his name was Ye Xuanping. Basically, he was mayor of Guangzhou and the governor of Guangdong. And very quickly, he was referred to as the emperor of the south. So in the 80s, he was running Guangdong province. And he became so powerful that the CCP sought to have him step down. And he actually threatened to withhold tax to Beijing from the province of Guangdong unless they negotiated with him. He wanted a vice chair of the CPPCC, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Committee. And he wants to be a vice governor of the CPPCC. And he wanted to be allowed to maintain his power base in Guangdong. And this is a rare case where the CCP actually deferred to these wishes. Just to get him out of running the most powerful province in China, they said okay. So he goes over the CPPCC. And he takes with him the kingpins of organized crime in Hong Kong and Macau. Stanley Ho never had a position, but Henry Falk and the other top lieutenants in these organized crime entities all wound up on the CPPCC. And to give you a sense of like, what was some of the magic Stanley Ho had when he won the monopoly on gaming in Macau? He devised this VIP room concept where... He owned the casino, but the VIP rooms were run by basically triads and junkets, powerful friends from mainland China and triads. And the triads conducted all kinds of crime that the Vancouver model got in a very big dose. So it was racketeering and prostitution and all kinds of things, but also collections. So Stanley Ho didn't have to work on collections because his muscle did it for him. But the strongest of these triad operators wound up in the CPPCC, as long as they were effective in what they were doing for the government. And 14K is dominated by Hakka Chinese. Most of the most powerful triads have a very strong Hakka element to it. And I don't mean to suggest that this wonderful race of Chinese called Hakkas is all bad. Lee Kuan Yew, the premier of Singapore, was Hakka Chinese. phenomenal Chinese, but there were also some very nefarious and very effective in their criminal activities that were Haka Chinese. So the Ye's were in the middle of this. And Chinese language social media accounts in Hong Kong will talk about the Ye's dominance over these gaming operators in Macau. 00:17:07    SAM COOPER Let's get into that and explore that more. I just want to ask a side question. As I'm aware of a very important figure, in what we call the Hoag Commission in Canada. I'm just going to leave it at that. This is our inquiry into foreign interference that stemmed from my investigative reporting. And there is a politician at the center of that that my sources close to them said went off to a haka conference in China for weeks or something like that, you know, while being an elected politician in Canada. Knowing what you know, and I'm just coming out of the blue with this question, is there anything good for Canada that they could be doing on that trip? 00:17:45    CHRISTOPHER MEYER There could be a lot of normal cultural activity, but I'll say one thing, that the powers that are doing the kinds of things that I'm concerned with are definitely represented in those groups. There might be a wink and a nod and things look very normal on the surface, but there's no free lunch in China. Everybody has to pay the piper, and the piper is the communist party of China. 00:18:11    SAM COOPER So let me ask you this. Viewers of the Bureau know that I've pressed away in journalism in explaining that the United Front Work Department and international money laundering and organized crime are synonymous. They're one and the same. The CIA says the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference is really the core unit of the United Front. So what you're getting at... I think the Ye family, these power brokers that are behind Xi and his power in southern China, you're saying they essentially formed this United Front and organized crime compact as sort of a political tool, a smuggling tool, a military tool? 00:18:55    CHRISTOPHER MEYER Yes. And I want to say that the United Front was an early Communist Party creation. And the thing about the Communist Party... They infiltrated the Kuomintang. When the Kuomintang had more power and they were the power base in China, the communists used political warfare to infiltrate them and really become their undoing. And the United Front is basically one way to get all parts of society under the control of the CCP. So within the United Front, the CPPCC is sort of the big leagues. And all the other organizations are the feeder groups. So if you get in a small united front group and you deliver in a big way, you can get promoted all the way to this PCC. And Ong Lapsung is an example of that. So the whole idea of the united front is to harness and control all the resources from academia, the private sector. from all aspects of society and to make them work for the Communist Party. And I feel that any united front operation, and there's so many in Canada and the U .S., they should just be called assets of the Chinese government. That's one way for the Chinese to increase their headcount of diplomatic officers within any given country. 00:20:26    Close Thanks for listening. If you get a chance, please like and subscribe and rate the show on your favorite podcast platform. Also, if you're interested in coming on the show or hosting an episode, email us at capodcasting@gmail.com. I'll have the email and CA Association website in the show notes. And now, most importantly, to those currently out in the field working with a partner nation's people or leadership to forward U.S. relations, thank you all for what you're doing. your host. Stay tuned for more great episodes of One CA Podcast.   Episode 2 00:00:01    Introduction Welcome to the 1CA Podcast. This is your host, Jack Gaines. 1CA is a product of the Civil Affairs Association and brings in people who are current or former military, diplomats, development officers, and field agents to discuss their experiences on ground with the partner nation's people and leadership. Our goal is to inspire anyone interested in working the last three feet of foreign relations. To contact the show, email us at capodcasting@gmail.com. or look us up on the Civil Affairs Association website at www.civilaffairsassoc.org. I'll have those in the show notes. Today we welcome Sam Cooper, founder of the news outlet The Bureau, as he interviews Christopher Meyer, a former U .S. 00:00:44    Introduction official and China expert during the Bush 1 and 2 administrations. Meyer currently serves as the head of the U .S. Micronesia Council and is the founder of Wide Fountain. a platform for in -depth geopolitical analysis. This is the second of a two -part episode. Sam and Christopher discuss PRC strategic corruption and political warfare. So let's get started. 00:01:08    SAM COOPER I feel that any United Front operation, and there's so many in Canada and the U .S., they should just be called assets of the Chinese government. That's one way for the Chinese to increase their headcount of diplomatic officers within any given country. And they should be labeled that way and they should be treated that way. And they're conducting operations for China. So to get back to the Ye family, I just want to say very briefly, so Deng Xiaoping taps the older brother, Ye, and he's in the government and he has a nine, 10 -year run in Guangdong. The younger brother, his name is Ye Xuanning. He's the dangerous one. He's a real interesting cat. So, yeah. was in college during the Cultural Revolution. And just to give you an idea of the thin ice that you could be skating on in China, he graduated from college and he was thrown in jail. And he was thrown in jail because, you know, Mao wanted to send a signal to the Ye family, I'm in control here. You're not in control. He got out of jail and he had a job in a radio factory or something like that. And he must have been so distraught, he lost his arm in an accident. throwing boxes into a crusher and he lost his arm. So he became a calligrapher with his left hand. And if you know Chinese, like every time you write calligraphy, your hand is going across what you're writing. If you're left -handed, I don't know how he did it. I'm left -handed. And he became an accomplished calligrapher with his left hand. So it just gives you a sense of the spirit of this guy. He's not your normal. person. I think he was a genius. I think he was extremely hardworking. And one of his first positions, he was involved in a small United Front operation in Beijing. Then he became secretary for Kang Xian, who was sort of the head of the oil faction in China. And he was a very powerful individual. And then he found himself in Guangdong. And when his brother was appointed head of the province and the city of Guangzhou, He got into Espionade, and he became the spymaster for the PLA, working in the GDP. And he really had it. He sort of hit his stride there, and that's how he ended his career. The spymaster for the PLA. I think any other rival couldn't even hold a candle to him. He was totally gifted. And his brother and he were able to leverage all of their... contacts with organized crime because he used them in operations around the world. And I think he's the one who weaponized it to the point where, number one, organized crime figures were making money for the military, a lot of it. And number two, they were almost pre -trained in operations. They were bold. They would go anywhere and do anything. And Aung La Pseung is a good example of that. 00:04:11    CHRISTOPHER MEYER I was going to say, because not everyone knows these names like you and I do, but Enlap Sang, nominally a real estate developer from Macau. My Files, he's a huge international organized crime figure known for the so -called Clinton Gate or White House visits. He's the guy that got next to the Clinton White House or got inside, you know, maybe five to ten times. He ends up getting done, as they say, in a United Nations corruption case, which of course connects to a very important guy in Australia that successfully sued my colleague, John Garneau, and yet is at the top of Chinese organized crime funding Australian politics. He was involved in that FBI case. So to bring it back, what I've picked up in my book and in my repeated reporting efforts at the Bureau is these international Chinese businessmen in real estate and casinos, tech these days, they go around the world, they get next to our politicians, and that's their job. They're being tasked by whoever the Ye family spymaster of today is, is sending them abroad to do that. At some point, Xi Jinping comes into this and says it's okay. 00:05:30    SAM COOPER okay. And it's still evolving. I mean, I came on to this. When I read your book and I saw your story of Lai Changxin, I said, holy shit, I have to get into this. You see the level of danger that it brings to a country like Canada and North America. But I think that Ye Xuen Ning created the mechanism for the CCP to use and leverage organized crime to, 00:05:51    SAM COOPER mechanism for the CCP to use and leverage organized crime to, number one, fund military operations. and other things, and to extend influence operations. Like the United Front is all about influence operations. But if you introduce organized crime elements into parts of the United Front, you can weaponize it and you can get a lot more bang for your buck using these nefarious creatures that you're managing, you're controlling them. And I want to mention something. How does the CCP have control over organized crimes? So I want to say, In the late 90s, Macau No. 1 was about to be returned from Portuguese administration to Chinese. And 2, the kind of monopoly of the casinos license was coming up in 2002. And what happened was these triad operators were starting to push back against Stanley Ho. Stanley Ho's right -hand man was shot in the face in Victoria Park during this period. And the Portuguese sent an official to try to calm down the situation. And that individual was shot when he arrived. And the Communist Party kind of went in and took control. When the monopoly came up, Stanley Ho and his family, they got the coverage. But that's because he's completely loyal to the CCP. And so the CCP has so much leverage over these entities. Completely, he devised the strategy to integrate organized crime. And then he passed away in 2016. And then the institutional steps took place after that. They had to transfer from sort of a control of one man to the government running it. And you can see examples around 2016 of a lot of large -scale Chinese operations having disruption during this period. One of the reasons they were able to do this for so long was that Ye Xuanning was completely secretive. I mean, he managed these operations in a very keen and brilliant way, and he was never identified. Xi Jinping's role is interesting. Ye Xuanning told his brothers to help Xi Jinping. And you can kind of see like an increase in their efforts when Xi's father... He was in Beijing, and he had a very high role. He pulled a bureau standing committee, and he was sent down because of Tiananmen. He was on the reformer side, and he publicly admitted it. He was a very admirable individual, and he said he was supporting Hua Guofeng. So he faced early retirement in 1993, and the Ye brothers were so upset about this, and probably Xi too. They sort of doubled down on their efforts on behalf of this political warfare. It's almost as if they were pissed off at the Communist Party, but they took it out on North America. It's like they had to become more radical in what they were doing because in order to get power in China, you had to outflank Li Peng and the hardliners. So there's an interesting element there. 00:09:13    CHRISTOPHER MEYER You talk about this combination of military intelligence and organized crime. and political warfare and global influence operations. Trade is obviously involved. Explain what you mean by radicalization of that tool in operations. 00:09:31    SAM COOPER So there were about 10 operations in the 1990s that I believe were masterminded by the Yeshi Clay and primarily Yeshi Ning. The most outrageous, there was one and probably several. smuggling of military -grade machine guns into the U .S. from China. And one of the groups that was set up, helped finance the military, was the Poly Group. And the Poly Group, they were on the bill of lading for these. They were labeled as something else, but they came into the port of Oakland. And the interesting thing was the CEO of Poly Group, who was a princeling himself, was meeting in the White House and had his photo taken with President Clinton. At the time, these machine guns were on the water. That's bold. Yes. And when I ponder this, it's like I know how much the Chinese love photographs. That photo shown by Xi Jinping to all the cronies in Beijing would get him a lot of brownie points. And these machine guns were being distributed to gangs in the area. Street gangs in California. So this kind of thing, right? Right. And so that one was uncovered. But how many others slipped by? And there have been cases similar magnitude in Tennessee and Florida. 00:10:57    CHRISTOPHER MEYER Yeah, and this is where it gets into the leaked Sidewinder report that I touched on in the book. But yeah, that report refers to Pauley Group laundering 2 ,000 AK -47s into California. You're saying you believe that not only is Xi Jinping supported by this Ye family intelligence, who I have no problem believing are behind the United Front organized crime nexus. You're saying you think Xi Jinping is a mind involved in this kind of thing as well. 00:11:30    SAM COOPER Originally, as I was doing my research, I thought Xi was the mastermind. But as I did a deep dive to what his contemporaries said of him, The big knock on Xi was that he wasn't educated. Like age nine to age 25, his dad has been persecuted and locked up without trial. And he's forced to work in the countryside and he's not happy about it. I mean, he wasn't educated. And that's the biggest knock on Xi Jinping. And when you look at the history of Xi in Fujian, first of all, he goes to the Ministry of Defense and then doesn't do... anything of note there as a young man. But then he goes into Hebei province and he's working in Hebei province as a middle level provincial official. And he's not doing much. I mean, his big contribution was suggesting that they film a TV show in that province and kind of burned out. He wasn't favored by the Communist Party officials there. You know, he's brought to Fujian. Communist Party officials bounce around provinces and each time they have an increasing role. Well, he stays in Fujian for 17 years. And it's almost like he's being babysat by the Yehs. And I mean, the Yeh family compound was a two and a half hour drive from where she was in Fujian. And so I don't think he was the mastermind, but he was definitely the beneficiary. And I think that it was a long term project. And the Yeh brothers. put the pieces on the table to help promote Xi Jinping. And here's an interesting thing. In 1997, there was a big Central Party conclave, the 15th Central Party plenary meeting. And Ye wasn't even named as an alternate delegate. So you've got hundreds of delegates coming from all over the country. And he's a princeling. And he's been in provincial government for 12 years. And he's not even named. Somebody forced him onto the list of alternate delegates. There were 150. He was the 151st alternate delegate. He didn't receive one vote. He was pushed on. And I think somebody in the realm said, you know what? We're running all these operations and we're doing it so secretively. Nobody knows that this is for Xi Jinping. So they started gradually to kind of promote Xi as. the mastermind of this. And the years were okay with that. But Xi Jinping was on his way to becoming the leader of China by 2002. 00:14:08    CHRISTOPHER MEYER And I was over in Taiwan, invited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs over a year ago with international journalists. And we had kind of a dinner talk where their political intelligence expert was going to talk about some of this Klan details and things like that. And they said, yeah, within the princelings, Xi Jinping was the least likely, the least talented to reach chairman. 00:14:37    CHRISTOPHER MEYER And so, OK, you know, I'm not the expert. If someone from Taiwan is telling me that, you're saying that. So if true, and you're saying the power behind the throne is this Ye family that boosts him. And they're the ones you're saying that are the masterminds of what I'm going to call modern political Chinese communist warfare using proxies, organized crime, dirty tycoons. So this is where we're going. 00:15:06    SAM COOPER Yep, this is where we're going. And let me just touch on a few of the operations in the 1990s, just to give you a sense for what was going on and the fact that the Chinese were never completely called out on the carpet for it. Just let them continue doing it. And one of the themes of my research is it's time to call the Chinese out. And to do that, you have to be very specific. I think there needs to be a large group of countries that has their research done and they call out Xi Jinping for this political warfare that absolutely is hyper -destructive. 00:15:41    CHRISTOPHER MEYER So you're saying this is an intelligence operation? Yeah. For the last 10 minutes or so, In direct relationship to this network you're talking about, the 90s, 2000, aggressive combination of international organized crime, Hong Kong tycoons, Macau tycoons, in Chinese military influence operations, also people smuggling, also drug smuggling, illegal migration and, you know, fentanyl. There is a basis that Chinese triads and Mexican cartels are working together on those things and that Canada is a, you could call it, if this is a company, the controlling minds of a lot of this are in Vancouver and Toronto. Canadian ports are very deeply infiltrated by China, along with some Iranian mafia and intelligence. It's a fact. So where do we go from there? I myself, as a Canadian, the good countries of the world need to get together to combat this approaching, if not already into early stages of the access of China, Iran, Russia, North Korea. We're at loggerheads and they're using Canada, I believe, unfortunately. 00:17:01    SAM COOPER Right. And I do believe that Yeshua Ning is a genius and he looked at North America and he wants to inflict pain on the U .S. When he set up these plans in the early 90s, the Chinese GDP was a fraction of the U .S. So he had a lot of ground to make up. And he chose Vancouver because the resources to combat his efforts were probably deemed to be significantly less than the resources in the U .S. So I feel that the attack on Canada, the Vancouver model. if you will, which spread right across to Toronto and then down into Queens and across to LA and permeates everything. I believe that the US and Canada should try to get on the same page about this and to the extent possible, Mexico as well. And then the UK and Australia haven't been unaffected by this. There should be a big effort to get on the same page with the West because this is a totalitarian regime doing its level best to take us out. 00:18:07    CHRISTOPHER MEYER The controlling mind, I'm saying, of the Mexican cartels, I think it's Chinese triads. That's the real power there. 00:18:15    SAM COOPER I think we're both in agreement. If you want to draw a word picture that says what this is, picture that there's a really bad actor and he's throwing a really illegal party and selling drugs and he's bringing it all in. And the U .S. is going after the people who own the land where all of this took place. You have to go after China. And I believe that China is making 98 % of the precursors for fentanyl, and then they're laundering the money. That's the other piece. They're laundering it. They're operating this massive money laundering operation for the cartels. So I say the gloves do come off, but I would love to see them come off in unison. And all of these, at least in North America, Mexico, Canada, and the U .S., we're all on the same page. And we speak with one voice. And I'll add to this. Xi Jinping has been as painful towards his own population as he has been externally and internationally. So he's inflicted pain on the Chinese and he's about to go down. I mean, he's got his wings clipped in the last few months and he may not be in power very long. There's some serious movement in China. 00:19:30    CHRISTOPHER MEYER You sound like my friend Harry Tsang, the ambassador for Taiwan and Ottawa. He's bearish on Xi Jinping in a big way. 00:19:38    SAM COOPER Yeah. Well, I think it's a good time for the West to approach China and say, look, we got off on the wrong foot. Let's reboot. And by the way, there's some reparations needed here. 70 ,000 people have been dying a year from this, and it's a Chinese operation. You know, the cartels are definitely part of it, but... I think there's good reason for the West to get on the same page. 00:20:02    CHRISTOPHER MEYER Absolutely. So we will end it there for a first great chat. And I think next time we'll get into the juicy story of Lai Cheng Zing, the bigot China's supposed most wanted. Or what was he? So I'll leave it at that and we'll pick it up next time. You have to say, 00:20:21    SAM COOPER have to say, I'm sitting there doing my research. I get your book. And all of a sudden, within 50 pages, the lights are going off because you wrote about Lai Changxin and it just completed some thoughts that I was mulling over. And yeah, we're going to have an interesting conversation about Lai Changxin. 00:20:40    CHRISTOPHER MEYER That touches my heart because I've always been a brother of the United States and I've felt so disheartened that bad people have gotten in between us and we have to stop that. And as you say, we need to get together on this. I've reached some good thinkers in the US and there's now things brewing. So let's keep it going. You got it. 00:21:01    Close Thanks for listening. If you get a chance, please like and subscribe and rate the show on your favorite podcast platform. Also, if you're interested in coming on the show or hosting an episode, email us at capodcasting@gmail.com. I'll have the email and CA Association website in the show notes. And now, most importantly, to those currently out in the field, working with a partner nation's people or leadership to forward U .S. relations. Thank you all for what you're doing. This is Jack, your host. Stay tuned for more great episodes, One CA Podcast.

China's domestic tourist attractions recorded more than 500 million visits during the just-concluded Spring Festival holiday, demonstrating the strong consumption power of the Chinese people at home and abroad.在刚刚结束的春节假期期间，中国国内旅游景点接待游客量超过5亿人次，展示了国内外中国民众的强劲消费能力。Destinations featuring snowy views or Chinese cultural vibes proved to be especially popular during the holiday period, which was the first Spring Festival celebrated after the event was added to UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list in December.今年春节是自去年12月“春节”被列入联合国教科文组织人类非物质文化遗产名录后的首个“非遗”春节。假期期间，以冰雪或中国文化为特色的旅游目的地尤受欢迎。Figures released on Wednesday by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism show that during the eight-day break from Jan 28 to Tuesday, trips to domestic tourist attractions increased 5.9 percent year-on-year to around 501 million visits.2月5日，文化和旅游部发布的数据显示，春节假期8天(1月28日至2月4日)，国内旅游景点接待游客量约5.01亿人次，同比增长5.9%。Tourism-related expenditures during the holiday reached more than 677 billion yuan ($93.1 billion), up 7 percent year-on-year, according to the ministry's statistics.据文旅部统计，假期期间旅游相关消费超过6770亿元人民币（931亿美元），同比增长7%。Spring Festival, the first day of the first month of the Chinese calendar, fell on Jan 29 this year and marked the beginning of the Year of the Snake.春节是中国农历正月初一，今年于1月29日到来，标志着蛇年的开始。The ministry said that destinations highlighting folk performances or nighttime amusement events, including lantern shows in the provinces of Anhui and Sichuan, and fireworks shows in Hunan province, were favored by travelers seeking an immersive Chinese cultural experience and a festive atmosphere. Museums were also popular during the holiday.文旅部表示，举办民俗表演或夜间娱乐活动的旅游目的地受到寻求沉浸式体验中国文化和节日氛围的游客青睐，如安徽省和四川省的灯会、湖南省的烟花表演。博物馆在假期期间也很受欢迎。Li Jianhua, a 50-year-old resident of Hebei province, spent the holiday in Datong, Shanxi province. The city is known for its historical architecture, well-preserved ancient towns and Buddhist grottoes.50岁的河北省居民李建华在春节假期前往山西省大同市度假。大同以历史建筑、保存完好的古镇、佛教石窟而闻名。"I went to the city in October for the first time and went again for Spring Festival," Li said. "I've watched many creative or classic lanterns from the well-protected city walls, which were breathtaking. The traditional cultural vibes hit me. I also bought some cultural and creative products as souvenirs."李建华说：“我10月第一次去了那里，春节又去了一次。我在保护完好的古城墙上观赏了许多富有创意或经典的灯笼，令人叹为观止。我被当地的传统文化氛围打动了，还买了一些文创产品当作纪念。”According to the ministry, destinations with snow views or winter sports activities in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and in northeastern provinces such as Heilongjiang and Jilin were also top choices for holiday travelers.文旅部表示，春节期间，新疆维吾尔自治区及黑龙江、吉林等东北省份凭借冰雪景观和冬季运动，也成为了游客的首选目的地。Figures from travel agencies showed the popularity of winter tourism during the holiday.多家旅行社的数据显示，春节期间冬季旅游备受欢迎。Travel portal Tuniu said domestic winter tourism was at its peak from early January to the Spring Festival holiday, and travelers living in southern or eastern provinces with milder climates such as Guangdong and Fujian have stronger interest in experiencing "freezing trips".旅游网站途牛表示，国内冬季旅游从1月初至春节假期处于高峰期，而居住在广东、福建等气候较温和的南方或东部省份的游客对体验“冰雪之旅”更感兴趣。Tuniu said that destinations in northeastern provinces, including Heilongjiang's Harbin—recognized as China's winter fairyland—and Mohe, China's northernmost city, and Changchun in Jilin were among the top destinations for winter attraction enthusiasts over the holiday.途牛网报告显示，假日期间，被誉为“中国冰雪世界”的黑龙江省哈尔滨市、中国最北端的漠河市以及吉林省长春市等东北城市是冬季景点爱好者的热门之选。For overseas traveling, Japan, Thailand, the Maldives and Indonesia remained popular for Chinese people during the long holiday because of their relatively close proximities, friendlier visa policies and lower travel costs, according to Tuniu.据途牛网介绍，对于海外旅游，由于距离相对较近、签证政策更友好、旅行成本更低，日本、泰国、马尔代夫、印度尼西亚在长假期间仍受到中国游客的欢迎。In addition, both the culture and tourism ministry and travel agencies noticed that the traditional celebrations and cultural vibes of Spring Festival have increased China's attractiveness to international travelers over the holiday who were interested in experiencing intangible cultural events such as temple fairs, lantern shows and operas.此外，文旅部和旅行社都注意到，春节期间的传统庆祝活动和文化氛围增强了中国对国际游客的吸引力，这些国际游客对体验庙会、灯展、戏曲等非物质文化遗产活动很感兴趣。Online travel agency Trip.com Group said that most of the inbound international travelers during Spring Festival were from South Korea, the United States, Malaysia and Singapore. They chose Shenzhen and Guangzhou in Guangdong province, as well as Shanghai and Beijing, to experience the bustling holiday.线上旅行机构携程集团表示，春节期间入境的国际游客大多来自韩国、美国、马来西亚、新加坡。他们选择前往广东深圳、广东广州、上海、北京体验热闹的假期氛围。It added that ticket bookings for events focusing on intangible cultural programs surged more than sevenfold on the overseas version of its platform during the holiday.携程集团还表示，春节期间，其海外平台上非遗相关项目门票预订量增长超过7倍。proximityn.接近，邻近

Pai Tee Kong is a celebration of the Jade Emperor's birthday. Significantly, this falls on the ninth day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, a date so momentous for the Hokkien Chinese that they claim it as the “proper” start to their New Year. Offerings of food and incense are laid out on a makeshift altar made up of two tiers of red benches - the lower for roasted meats, while the upper level, symbolising the elevated status of heaven, consists of vegetarian dishes to be consumed by the deity also known as the God of Heaven (Pai Tee Kong is Hokkien for “Worshipping the God of Heaven”). Additionally, two stalks of sugar cane are tied to each end of the altar. Hokkien Chinese believe this was the day that the Jade Emperor saved their descendants from death in the Fujian province of China. Located along the coast of the South China Sea, their villages were subject to regular attacks by pirates back in the 16th Century. In one particularly vicious raid, the villagers were forced to flee into the sugarcane forests, where they waited and prayed for God's help to save them. When it was finally safe to leave, the villagers realised it coincided with the birthday of the Jade Emperor. And so the legend goes.

Today, Sam Cooper, founder of the news outlet The Bureau, guest hosts Christopher Meyer, a former U.S. official and China expert during the Bush One and Two Administrations. Meyer currently serves as the head of the U.S. Micronesia Council and founded Wide Fountain, a platform for in-depth geopolitical analysis.  In this the first of a two-part episode, Sam and Christopher discuss PRC strategic corruption and political warfare. So, let's get started.  Sam Cooper's The Bureau: https://www.thebureau.news/ Christopher Meyer's Wide Fountain platform: https://widefountain.substack.com/ --- One CA is a product of the civil affairs association a and brings in people who are current or former military, diplomats, development officers, and field agents to discuss their experiences on the ground with a partner nation's people and leadership. We aim to inspire anyone interested in working in the "last three feet" of U.S. foreign relations.  To contact the show, email us at CApodcasting@gmail.com  or look us up on the Civil Affairs Association website at www civilaffairsassoc.org --- Special thanks to Cozy Ambience for a sample of "February Cafe Jazz - Instrumental Bossa Nova Music for Work, Study and Relax - Background Music" retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmq8Ht-sNwQ --- Transcript 00:00:01    Introduction Welcome to the One CA Podcast. This is your host, Jack Gaines. One CA is a product of the Civil Affairs Association and brings in people who are current or former military, diplomats, development officers, and field agents to discuss their experiences on ground with the partner nation's people and leadership. Our goal is to inspire anyone interested in working the last three feet of foreign relations. To contact the show, email us at capodcasting@gmail.com. or look us up on the Civil Affairs Association website at www.civilaffairsassoc.org. I'll have those in the show notes. Today we welcome Sam Cooper, founder of the news outlet The Bureau, as he interviews Christopher Meyer, a former U.S. 00:00:44    SAM COOPER official and China expert during the Bush I and II administrations. Meyer currently serves as the head of the U.S. Micronesia Council and is the founder of Wide Fountain. a platform for in -depth geopolitical analysis. This is the first of a two -part episode. Sam and Christopher discuss PRC strategic corruption and political warfare. So let's get started. 00:01:07    SAM COOPER Today I'm excited to introduce Chris Myers. Chris is a longtime China expert and former U .S. government diplomatic and economic issues officer, and he explains how military intelligence and influence networks embedded deeply with organized crime are a central feature of the global strategy employed by the families that really are running communist China. And when I say that, we're going to discuss your research on the family of Xi Jinping, the Xi family, and you call it the Yezi clique. But first, tell our viewers your background in getting into China and your career. 00:01:46    CHRISTOPHER MEYER Thank you very much, Sam. I started a keen interest in China when I was 16. And I read the history of the opium wars and I was outraged. And I decided I wanted a career to be involved in business and diplomacy between the U .S. and China. And then as an undergrad student, I did research on the special economic zones. This was in the early 80s and the special economic zones were just announced. And my research led me to see the geopolitical aspects. There were some. across from Macau, across from Hong Kong, and across from Taiwan. So I sort of had an eye to that. And then I did business. I was, for five years, I was with a Fortune 500 company. And I had the opportunity to do some business in Xiaomon. And I saw some things that set off alarm bells in my mind. And I kind of filed that. And I had some experiences that informed my research later. I worked in the government in Bush 1 and Bush 2. I was involved in Indo -Pacific affairs. really helping American companies do business in the region, and then became a consultant to part of the government that administered our territories in the Pacific. So I saw some things there that, again, set off alarm bells in my mind. And in 2016, I happened to cross an old colleague who kind of gave me some more information. And basically from 2016 until 2022, I conducted a lot of independent research. I decided I wanted to know exactly what was going on because proxies in the region seemed emboldened to take on the U .S. And they didn't have a government portfolio, but they acted like they did. And so my research sort of started in Micronesia. I had the great opportunity to come across your book. You totally informed. parts of what I was looking at and kind of put the spotlight on what happened in Canada. And I kind of worked the two sides to the middle and conducted most recently research that kind of takes us from Mao Zedong's death until the 90s. And I believe that there was a click. I call it the yes, she click. There were scores to settle. There were powerful families that were on the cusp of greatness or recognition for all their good work, and they were purged. And it led some individuals to become extremely militant in their conduct of political warfare against the U .S. So that sort of sets the table for what we might be talking about. 00:04:28    SAM COOPER Yeah. So to get into this, let's start with the Ye family. They're mysterious, but for experts, they're very clearly a clan that has tremendous kingmaking power in China. So maybe let's start with who they are and then bridge into how they connect with Xi's father. 00:04:46    CHRISTOPHER MEYER So the patriarch, Lie Jianying, was literally the kingmaker of Mao Zedong. He came from Guangdong province, and he was involved in the very earliest movements of the Communist Party in China. And he fled one of those, I think it was the Guangzhou uprising, with Zhou Enlai, and they escaped to Hong Kong. So Ye Jianying is one of the original revolutionaries in China, and he had the title of Marshal Ye. And when he crossed paths with Mao Zedong, he was actually the aide -de -camp to a very powerful Communist Party operator out of Beijing who had an army of tens of thousands. And he rolled up to Mao and his very small group of long marchers and said, follow us, we're going to Sichuan province. And Mao was like, no, I don't think that's a safe bet. The locals are going to tear you up. And Ye Jianying kind of heard a truth in Mao and he deserted this powerful general and with him brought the code books. So Mao gets Ye Jianying and the code books and he's able to communicate with the Comintern. And lo and behold, that general did get wiped out in Sichuan. He returned to Mao's base. With a few thousand troops from then, Mao became the most powerful leader in the communist ecosystem. So Ye Jianying had a very high regard for Mao. Mao called him the savior of the Communist Party and the Communist Revolution. And so fast forward it right through the revolution. Ye gets a very top position as the party secretary for Guangdong province, the largest and economically most powerful province in the country. And Mao wants to conduct his land reform in Guangdong, just as he does everywhere. And it's a violent thing where landowners are hunted down and put to death. Yeah, because he was a native Cantonese, understood that the landowners in Guangdong were not of the same ilk as those throughout China. They actually worked the lands. They had a very cooperative relationship with labor. And he tried to resist. But Mao forced Lin Biao into Guangdong. And Ye lost his government role. And if he hadn't been in the military, he would have been completely out of power. But because he had a military portfolio, he was able to stay on the peripheries. And he was actually part of the small group that brought down the Gang of Four and ended the Cultural Revolution. So Ye Jianying went through the Mao Zedong grinder, but he did it so early in the 50s that he was able to... maintain power and have it going forward. Another Long March hero was Xi Jinping's father, Xi Zhong Chun. And his claim to fame in the Communist Party was he maintained security over the area where Mao was camped in Yan 'an. And he was able to provide Mao and his group with enough security that they could camp there through a winter and survive. Not only that, but he negotiated and he conducted diplomacy with the tribesmen in the Northwest, in Qinghai, in Xinjiang, and in Tibet. And he was loved. And he got a lot of rebels and insurgents among these minority populations to join the Communist Party. And Mao gave him great profs for that and referred to him as one of the heroes of the Three Kingdoms period. brilliant statesman who was able to ingratiate with the minorities and make them part of the Chinese nation. Unfortunately, though, Xi Jinping's father, Xi Zhongchun, he was purged, but he was purged later. He was purged in 1962. And from Xi Jinping's age nine until he was 25, Xi Jinping's father was under arrest. Without trial, it was just the culture revolution. He was under arrest because his office published a book that was deemed not flattering to Mao Zedong. Basically, he was promoting some thought within the Communist Party that Mao didn't like. So Xi's father is in jail from 62 to 78. And because Ye Senior and Xi Zhongchun had a relationship, Ye Jianying kind of became a godfather of sorts for Xi Jinping. Xi was sent to work in the countryside and he escaped and he tried to get back to Beijing and it wasn't safe for him to be reunited with his family. And Ye intervened. And Ye made sure that Xi joined the Communist Party, even though these tragedies were all around him, and made sure that he got the semblance of an education, although he really never did. He was a guide for Xi Jinping throughout his younger years. in place of his father. 00:10:02    Sam Cooper Before we continue how those families dovetail together, can you describe in China's political economy, what is the power of Marshal Ye? 00:10:13    CHRISTOPHER MEYER So in the 50s, he was jettisoned out of the political arena. His main work was in the PLA. He was a marshal and he became minister of defense in China. And he was responsible for procurement. And to sort of give you a sense, when the Korean War started, the United Nations put a blockade on trade with China because they were arming the North Korean army. Marshal Yeh was responsible for making sure that supplies got to North Korea. And that was a big role that he fulfilled. And his sons kind of brought that along. So it's curious because Marshal Yeh was one of the most powerful stars in the communist lineup, but he was also a minority. He was from Guangdong and he was a Haka Chinese. So some people would say that Haka Chinese within China, there's a lid sometimes on their ability to move up. And so perhaps he was never considered for the echelon, but he did arise very high. But in some ways, and his sons adopted this even more so, they had to become very combative. in their political dealings. But no doubt about it, Marshal Yeh had a chance to handle huge volumes of military supplies, and there was an opportunity to skim and generate great wealth, which probably was the case. The way that Marshal Yeh fulfilled the supply chains for the North Korean army was through organized crime. And it just happened that two of The individuals, Henry Falk and Stanley Ho, were also Hakka Chinese. And they became the kingpins of organized crime in Hong Kong and Macau. Both of them are on record as saying they made their fortunes supplying the Korean War. 00:12:15    SAM COOPER Right. So people that read my book are very familiar with Stanley Ho, according to U .S. government intelligence. the absolute king of Chinese international mafia with connectivity to casinos, banking, political influence operations in Canada, triad leadership in Canada. So I think we've set the table for the 90s in Guangdong, Fujian. Xi Jinping is now starting to come on the scene politically there. The Ye family, who were partners essentially of Xi's father. had a little bit of a godfather eye on Xi's movements within the party. We can say that they're the power behind a throne that they want to see continue to rise. So can you take us into the 90s, the sort of Stanley Ho connectivity to Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and how that combines the Hong Kong tycoons slash triad leaders with the communist powers in Fujian? 00:13:21    CHRISTOPHER MEYER Yes. Mao passed away in 78. Deng Xiaoping came to power. And Deng was all about economic reform and catching up to the West. So in southern China, Fujian and Guangdong province, Deng looked to Ye Jenying and his sons. His sons were in their 30s now. And he also looked to Xi Zhongshan. Xi Zhongshan became party secretary for Guangdong province. in the early 80s. And Deng kind of put together this group. The Ye's and the Xi's were family friends. They celebrated Chinese holidays together. The Xi's were northern Chinese, but they kind of encamped in Guangdong province after a certain amount of time. And that's where Xi's father retired. But in Guangdong, the son of Ye, his name was Ye Xuanping. Basically, he was mayor of Guangzhou and the governor of Guangdong. And very quickly, he was referred to as the emperor of the south. So in the 80s, he was running Guangdong province. And he became so powerful that the CCP sought to have him step down. And he actually threatened to withhold tax to Beijing from the province of Guangdong unless they negotiated with him. He wanted a vice chair of the CPPCC, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Committee. And he wants to be a vice governor of the CPPCC. And he wanted to be allowed to maintain his power base in Guangdong. And this is a rare case where the CCP actually deferred to these wishes. Just to get him out of running the most powerful province in China, they said okay. So he goes over the CPPCC. And he takes with him the kingpins of organized crime in Hong Kong and Macau. Stanley Ho never had a position, but Henry Falk and the other top lieutenants in these organized crime entities all wound up on the CPPCC. And to give you a sense of like, what was some of the magic Stanley Ho had when he won the monopoly on gaming in Macau? He devised this VIP room concept where... He owned the casino, but the VIP rooms were run by basically triads and junkets, powerful friends from mainland China and triads. And the triads conducted all kinds of crime that the Vancouver model got in a very big dose. So it was racketeering and prostitution and all kinds of things, but also collections. So Stanley Ho didn't have to work on collections because his muscle did it for him. But the strongest of these triad operators wound up in the CPPCC, as long as they were effective in what they were doing for the government. And 14K is dominated by Hakka Chinese. Most of the most powerful triads have a very strong Hakka element to it. And I don't mean to suggest that this wonderful race of Chinese called Hakkas is all bad. Lee Kuan Yew, the premier of Singapore, was Hakka Chinese. phenomenal Chinese, but there were also some very nefarious and very effective in their criminal activities that were Haka Chinese. So the Ye's were in the middle of this. And Chinese language social media accounts in Hong Kong will talk about the Ye's dominance over these gaming operators in Macau. 00:17:07    SAM COOPER Let's get into that and explore that more. I just want to ask a side question. As I'm aware of a very important figure, in what we call the Hoag Commission in Canada. I'm just going to leave it at that. This is our inquiry into foreign interference that stemmed from my investigative reporting. And there is a politician at the center of that that my sources close to them said went off to a haka conference in China for weeks or something like that, you know, while being an elected politician in Canada. Knowing what you know, and I'm just coming out of the blue with this question, is there anything good for Canada that they could be doing on that trip? 00:17:45    CHRISTOPHER MEYER There could be a lot of normal cultural activity, but I'll say one thing, that the powers that are doing the kinds of things that I'm concerned with are definitely represented in those groups. There might be a wink and a nod and things look very normal on the surface, but there's no free lunch in China. Everybody has to pay the piper, and the piper is the communist party of China. 00:18:11    SAM COOPER So let me ask you this. Viewers of the Bureau know that I've pressed away in journalism in explaining that the United Front Work Department and international money laundering and organized crime are synonymous. They're one and the same. The CIA says the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference is really the core unit of the United Front. So what you're getting at... I think the Ye family, these power brokers that are behind Xi and his power in southern China, you're saying they essentially formed this United Front and organized crime compact as sort of a political tool, a smuggling tool, a military tool? 00:18:55    CHRISTOPHER MEYER Yes. And I want to say that the United Front was an early Communist Party creation. And the thing about the Communist Party... They infiltrated the Kuomintang. When the Kuomintang had more power and they were the power base in China, the communists used political warfare to infiltrate them and really become their undoing. And the United Front is basically one way to get all parts of society under the control of the CCP. So within the United Front, the CPPCC is sort of the big leagues. And all the other organizations are the feeder groups. So if you get in a small united front group and you deliver in a big way, you can get promoted all the way to this PCC. And Ong Lapsung is an example of that. So the whole idea of the united front is to harness and control all the resources from academia, the private sector. from all aspects of society and to make them work for the Communist Party. And I feel that any united front operation, and there's so many in Canada and the U .S., they should just be called assets of the Chinese government. That's one way for the Chinese to increase their headcount of diplomatic officers within any given country. 00:20:26    Close Thanks for listening. If you get a chance, please like and subscribe and rate the show on your favorite podcast platform. Also, if you're interested in coming on the show or hosting an episode, email us at capodcasting@gmail.com. I'll have the email and CA Association website in the show notes. And now, most importantly, to those currently out in the field working with a partner nation's people or leadership to forward U.S. relations, thank you all for what you're doing. your host. Stay tuned for more great episodes of One CA Podcast.   Episode 2 00:00:01    Introduction Welcome to the 1CA Podcast. This is your host, Jack Gaines. 1CA is a product of the Civil Affairs Association and brings in people who are current or former military, diplomats, development officers, and field agents to discuss their experiences on ground with the partner nation's people and leadership. Our goal is to inspire anyone interested in working the last three feet of foreign relations. To contact the show, email us at capodcasting@gmail.com. or look us up on the Civil Affairs Association website at www.civilaffairsassoc.org. I'll have those in the show notes. Today we welcome Sam Cooper, founder of the news outlet The Bureau, as he interviews Christopher Meyer, a former U .S. 00:00:44    Introduction official and China expert during the Bush 1 and 2 administrations. Meyer currently serves as the head of the U .S. Micronesia Council and is the founder of Wide Fountain. a platform for in -depth geopolitical analysis. This is the second of a two -part episode. Sam and Christopher discuss PRC strategic corruption and political warfare. So let's get started. 00:01:08    SAM COOPER I feel that any United Front operation, and there's so many in Canada and the U .S., they should just be called assets of the Chinese government. That's one way for the Chinese to increase their headcount of diplomatic officers within any given country. And they should be labeled that way and they should be treated that way. And they're conducting operations for China. So to get back to the Ye family, I just want to say very briefly, so Deng Xiaoping taps the older brother, Ye, and he's in the government and he has a nine, 10 -year run in Guangdong. The younger brother, his name is Ye Xuanning. He's the dangerous one. He's a real interesting cat. So, yeah. was in college during the Cultural Revolution. And just to give you an idea of the thin ice that you could be skating on in China, he graduated from college and he was thrown in jail. And he was thrown in jail because, you know, Mao wanted to send a signal to the Ye family, I'm in control here. You're not in control. He got out of jail and he had a job in a radio factory or something like that. And he must have been so distraught, he lost his arm in an accident. throwing boxes into a crusher and he lost his arm. So he became a calligrapher with his left hand. And if you know Chinese, like every time you write calligraphy, your hand is going across what you're writing. If you're left -handed, I don't know how he did it. I'm left -handed. And he became an accomplished calligrapher with his left hand. So it just gives you a sense of the spirit of this guy. He's not your normal. person. I think he was a genius. I think he was extremely hardworking. And one of his first positions, he was involved in a small United Front operation in Beijing. Then he became secretary for Kang Xian, who was sort of the head of the oil faction in China. And he was a very powerful individual. And then he found himself in Guangdong. And when his brother was appointed head of the province and the city of Guangzhou, He got into Espionade, and he became the spymaster for the PLA, working in the GDP. And he really had it. He sort of hit his stride there, and that's how he ended his career. The spymaster for the PLA. I think any other rival couldn't even hold a candle to him. He was totally gifted. And his brother and he were able to leverage all of their... contacts with organized crime because he used them in operations around the world. And I think he's the one who weaponized it to the point where, number one, organized crime figures were making money for the military, a lot of it. And number two, they were almost pre -trained in operations. They were bold. They would go anywhere and do anything. And Aung La Pseung is a good example of that. 00:04:11    CHRISTOPHER MEYER I was going to say, because not everyone knows these names like you and I do, but Enlap Sang, nominally a real estate developer from Macau. My Files, he's a huge international organized crime figure known for the so -called Clinton Gate or White House visits. He's the guy that got next to the Clinton White House or got inside, you know, maybe five to ten times. He ends up getting done, as they say, in a United Nations corruption case, which of course connects to a very important guy in Australia that successfully sued my colleague, John Garneau, and yet is at the top of Chinese organized crime funding Australian politics. He was involved in that FBI case. So to bring it back, what I've picked up in my book and in my repeated reporting efforts at the Bureau is these international Chinese businessmen in real estate and casinos, tech these days, they go around the world, they get next to our politicians, and that's their job. They're being tasked by whoever the Ye family spymaster of today is, is sending them abroad to do that. At some point, Xi Jinping comes into this and says it's okay. 00:05:30    SAM COOPER okay. And it's still evolving. I mean, I came on to this. When I read your book and I saw your story of Lai Changxin, I said, holy shit, I have to get into this. You see the level of danger that it brings to a country like Canada and North America. But I think that Ye Xuen Ning created the mechanism for the CCP to use and leverage organized crime to, 00:05:51    SAM COOPER mechanism for the CCP to use and leverage organized crime to, number one, fund military operations. and other things, and to extend influence operations. Like the United Front is all about influence operations. But if you introduce organized crime elements into parts of the United Front, you can weaponize it and you can get a lot more bang for your buck using these nefarious creatures that you're managing, you're controlling them. And I want to mention something. How does the CCP have control over organized crimes? So I want to say, In the late 90s, Macau No. 1 was about to be returned from Portuguese administration to Chinese. And 2, the kind of monopoly of the casinos license was coming up in 2002. And what happened was these triad operators were starting to push back against Stanley Ho. Stanley Ho's right -hand man was shot in the face in Victoria Park during this period. And the Portuguese sent an official to try to calm down the situation. And that individual was shot when he arrived. And the Communist Party kind of went in and took control. When the monopoly came up, Stanley Ho and his family, they got the coverage. But that's because he's completely loyal to the CCP. And so the CCP has so much leverage over these entities. Completely, he devised the strategy to integrate organized crime. And then he passed away in 2016. And then the institutional steps took place after that. They had to transfer from sort of a control of one man to the government running it. And you can see examples around 2016 of a lot of large -scale Chinese operations having disruption during this period. One of the reasons they were able to do this for so long was that Ye Xuanning was completely secretive. I mean, he managed these operations in a very keen and brilliant way, and he was never identified. Xi Jinping's role is interesting. Ye Xuanning told his brothers to help Xi Jinping. And you can kind of see like an increase in their efforts when Xi's father... He was in Beijing, and he had a very high role. He pulled a bureau standing committee, and he was sent down because of Tiananmen. He was on the reformer side, and he publicly admitted it. He was a very admirable individual, and he said he was supporting Hua Guofeng. So he faced early retirement in 1993, and the Ye brothers were so upset about this, and probably Xi too. They sort of doubled down on their efforts on behalf of this political warfare. It's almost as if they were pissed off at the Communist Party, but they took it out on North America. It's like they had to become more radical in what they were doing because in order to get power in China, you had to outflank Li Peng and the hardliners. So there's an interesting element there. 00:09:13    CHRISTOPHER MEYER You talk about this combination of military intelligence and organized crime. and political warfare and global influence operations. Trade is obviously involved. Explain what you mean by radicalization of that tool in operations. 00:09:31    SAM COOPER So there were about 10 operations in the 1990s that I believe were masterminded by the Yeshi Clay and primarily Yeshi Ning. The most outrageous, there was one and probably several. smuggling of military -grade machine guns into the U .S. from China. And one of the groups that was set up, helped finance the military, was the Poly Group. And the Poly Group, they were on the bill of lading for these. They were labeled as something else, but they came into the port of Oakland. And the interesting thing was the CEO of Poly Group, who was a princeling himself, was meeting in the White House and had his photo taken with President Clinton. At the time, these machine guns were on the water. That's bold. Yes. And when I ponder this, it's like I know how much the Chinese love photographs. That photo shown by Xi Jinping to all the cronies in Beijing would get him a lot of brownie points. And these machine guns were being distributed to gangs in the area. Street gangs in California. So this kind of thing, right? Right. And so that one was uncovered. But how many others slipped by? And there have been cases similar magnitude in Tennessee and Florida. 00:10:57    CHRISTOPHER MEYER Yeah, and this is where it gets into the leaked Sidewinder report that I touched on in the book. But yeah, that report refers to Pauley Group laundering 2 ,000 AK -47s into California. You're saying you believe that not only is Xi Jinping supported by this Ye family intelligence, who I have no problem believing are behind the United Front organized crime nexus. You're saying you think Xi Jinping is a mind involved in this kind of thing as well. 00:11:30    SAM COOPER Originally, as I was doing my research, I thought Xi was the mastermind. But as I did a deep dive to what his contemporaries said of him, The big knock on Xi was that he wasn't educated. Like age nine to age 25, his dad has been persecuted and locked up without trial. And he's forced to work in the countryside and he's not happy about it. I mean, he wasn't educated. And that's the biggest knock on Xi Jinping. And when you look at the history of Xi in Fujian, first of all, he goes to the Ministry of Defense and then doesn't do... anything of note there as a young man. But then he goes into Hebei province and he's working in Hebei province as a middle level provincial official. And he's not doing much. I mean, his big contribution was suggesting that they film a TV show in that province and kind of burned out. He wasn't favored by the Communist Party officials there. You know, he's brought to Fujian. Communist Party officials bounce around provinces and each time they have an increasing role. Well, he stays in Fujian for 17 years. And it's almost like he's being babysat by the Yehs. And I mean, the Yeh family compound was a two and a half hour drive from where she was in Fujian. And so I don't think he was the mastermind, but he was definitely the beneficiary. And I think that it was a long term project. And the Yeh brothers. put the pieces on the table to help promote Xi Jinping. And here's an interesting thing. In 1997, there was a big Central Party conclave, the 15th Central Party plenary meeting. And Ye wasn't even named as an alternate delegate. So you've got hundreds of delegates coming from all over the country. And he's a princeling. And he's been in provincial government for 12 years. And he's not even named. Somebody forced him onto the list of alternate delegates. There were 150. He was the 151st alternate delegate. He didn't receive one vote. He was pushed on. And I think somebody in the realm said, you know what? We're running all these operations and we're doing it so secretively. Nobody knows that this is for Xi Jinping. So they started gradually to kind of promote Xi as. the mastermind of this. And the years were okay with that. But Xi Jinping was on his way to becoming the leader of China by 2002. 00:14:08    CHRISTOPHER MEYER And I was over in Taiwan, invited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs over a year ago with international journalists. And we had kind of a dinner talk where their political intelligence expert was going to talk about some of this Klan details and things like that. And they said, yeah, within the princelings, Xi Jinping was the least likely, the least talented to reach chairman. 00:14:37    CHRISTOPHER MEYER And so, OK, you know, I'm not the expert. If someone from Taiwan is telling me that, you're saying that. So if true, and you're saying the power behind the throne is this Ye family that boosts him. And they're the ones you're saying that are the masterminds of what I'm going to call modern political Chinese communist warfare using proxies, organized crime, dirty tycoons. So this is where we're going. 00:15:06    SAM COOPER Yep, this is where we're going. And let me just touch on a few of the operations in the 1990s, just to give you a sense for what was going on and the fact that the Chinese were never completely called out on the carpet for it. Just let them continue doing it. And one of the themes of my research is it's time to call the Chinese out. And to do that, you have to be very specific. I think there needs to be a large group of countries that has their research done and they call out Xi Jinping for this political warfare that absolutely is hyper -destructive. 00:15:41    CHRISTOPHER MEYER So you're saying this is an intelligence operation? Yeah. For the last 10 minutes or so, In direct relationship to this network you're talking about, the 90s, 2000, aggressive combination of international organized crime, Hong Kong tycoons, Macau tycoons, in Chinese military influence operations, also people smuggling, also drug smuggling, illegal migration and, you know, fentanyl. There is a basis that Chinese triads and Mexican cartels are working together on those things and that Canada is a, you could call it, if this is a company, the controlling minds of a lot of this are in Vancouver and Toronto. Canadian ports are very deeply infiltrated by China, along with some Iranian mafia and intelligence. It's a fact. So where do we go from there? I myself, as a Canadian, the good countries of the world need to get together to combat this approaching, if not already into early stages of the access of China, Iran, Russia, North Korea. We're at loggerheads and they're using Canada, I believe, unfortunately. 00:17:01    SAM COOPER Right. And I do believe that Yeshua Ning is a genius and he looked at North America and he wants to inflict pain on the U .S. When he set up these plans in the early 90s, the Chinese GDP was a fraction of the U .S. So he had a lot of ground to make up. And he chose Vancouver because the resources to combat his efforts were probably deemed to be significantly less than the resources in the U .S. So I feel that the attack on Canada, the Vancouver model. if you will, which spread right across to Toronto and then down into Queens and across to LA and permeates everything. I believe that the US and Canada should try to get on the same page about this and to the extent possible, Mexico as well. And then the UK and Australia haven't been unaffected by this. There should be a big effort to get on the same page with the West because this is a totalitarian regime doing its level best to take us out. 00:18:07    CHRISTOPHER MEYER The controlling mind, I'm saying, of the Mexican cartels, I think it's Chinese triads. That's the real power there. 00:18:15    SAM COOPER I think we're both in agreement. If you want to draw a word picture that says what this is, picture that there's a really bad actor and he's throwing a really illegal party and selling drugs and he's bringing it all in. And the U .S. is going after the people who own the land where all of this took place. You have to go after China. And I believe that China is making 98 % of the precursors for fentanyl, and then they're laundering the money. That's the other piece. They're laundering it. They're operating this massive money laundering operation for the cartels. So I say the gloves do come off, but I would love to see them come off in unison. And all of these, at least in North America, Mexico, Canada, and the U .S., we're all on the same page. And we speak with one voice. And I'll add to this. Xi Jinping has been as painful towards his own population as he has been externally and internationally. So he's inflicted pain on the Chinese and he's about to go down. I mean, he's got his wings clipped in the last few months and he may not be in power very long. There's some serious movement in China. 00:19:30    CHRISTOPHER MEYER You sound like my friend Harry Tsang, the ambassador for Taiwan and Ottawa. He's bearish on Xi Jinping in a big way. 00:19:38    SAM COOPER Yeah. Well, I think it's a good time for the West to approach China and say, look, we got off on the wrong foot. Let's reboot. And by the way, there's some reparations needed here. 70 ,000 people have been dying a year from this, and it's a Chinese operation. You know, the cartels are definitely part of it, but... I think there's good reason for the West to get on the same page. 00:20:02    CHRISTOPHER MEYER Absolutely. So we will end it there for a first great chat. And I think next time we'll get into the juicy story of Lai Cheng Zing, the bigot China's supposed most wanted. Or what was he? So I'll leave it at that and we'll pick it up next time. You have to say, 00:20:21    SAM COOPER have to say, I'm sitting there doing my research. I get your book. And all of a sudden, within 50 pages, the lights are going off because you wrote about Lai Changxin and it just completed some thoughts that I was mulling over. And yeah, we're going to have an interesting conversation about Lai Changxin. 00:20:40    CHRISTOPHER MEYER That touches my heart because I've always been a brother of the United States and I've felt so disheartened that bad people have gotten in between us and we have to stop that. And as you say, we need to get together on this. I've reached some good thinkers in the US and there's now things brewing. So let's keep it going. You got it. 00:21:01    Close Thanks for listening. If you get a chance, please like and subscribe and rate the show on your favorite podcast platform. Also, if you're interested in coming on the show or hosting an episode, email us at capodcasting@gmail.com. I'll have the email and CA Association website in the show notes. And now, most importantly, to those currently out in the field, working with a partner nation's people or leadership to forward U .S. relations. Thank you all for what you're doing. This is Jack, your host. Stay tuned for more great episodes, One CA Podcast.

Hans Seesaghur, a Mauritian with deep ties to China, spent nearly 20 years experiencing Chinese New Year traditions across regions like Liaoning, Fujian, and Chengdu. Each celebration revealed unique customs, deepening his love for Chinese culture. Back in Mauritius, where Chinese New Year is a public holiday, the festive spirit extends beyond the Chinese community, uniting people in joy and celebration. For Hans, the festival symbolizes cultural connection and shared prosperity.

Today, we'll talk about Zen Master Yinyuan, a prominent 17th-century Chinese monk, who has profoundly influenced Japan's Edo-era culture, religion, and society by introducing Obaku Zen Buddhism, fostering enduring cultural exchange between China and Japan.

Greetings to everybody! Time flies fast, and the new year will be with us shortly. I extend my best wishes to you all from Beijing.大家好！时间过得很快，新的一年即将到来，我在北京向大家致以美好的祝福！In 2024, we have together journeyed through the four seasons. Together, we have experienced winds and rains and seen rainbows. Those touching and unforgettable moments have been like still frames showing how extraordinary a year we have had.2024年，我们一起走过春夏秋冬，一道经历风雨彩虹，一个个瞬间定格在这不平凡的一年，令人感慨、难以忘怀。We have proactively responded to the impacts of the changing environment at home and abroad. We have adopted a full range of policies to make solid gains in pursuing high-quality development. China's economy has rebounded and is on an upward trajectory, with its GDP for the year expected to pass the 130 trillion yuan mark. Grain output has surpassed 700 million tons, and China's bowls are now filled with more Chinese grain. Coordinated development across regions has gained stronger momentum, and mutually reinforcing advances have been made in both new urbanization and rural revitalization. Green and low-carbon development has been further enhanced. Indeed, a more beautiful China is unfolding before us.我们积极应对国内外环境变化带来的影响，出台一系列政策“组合拳”，扎实推动高质量发展，我国经济回暖向好，国内生产总值预计超过130万亿元。粮食产量突破1.4万亿斤，中国碗装了更多中国粮。区域发展协同联动、积厚成势，新型城镇化和乡村振兴相互融合、同频共振。绿色低碳发展纵深推进，美丽中国画卷徐徐铺展。We have fostered new quality productive forces in light of actual conditions. New business sectors, forms and models have kept emerging. For the first time, China has produced more than 10 million new energy vehicles in a year. Breakthroughs have been made in integrated circuit, artificial intelligence, quantum communications and many other fields. Also for the first time, the Chang'e-6 lunar probe collected samples from the far side of the moon. The Mengxiang drilling vessel explored the mystery of the deep ocean. The Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link now connects the two cities across the sea. The Antarctic Qinling Station is now in operation on the frozen continent. All this epitomizes the lofty spirit and dreams of the Chinese people to explore stars and oceans.我们因地制宜培育新质生产力，新产业新业态新模式竞相涌现，新能源汽车年产量首次突破1000万辆，集成电路、人工智能、量子通信等领域取得新成果。嫦娥六号首次月背采样，梦想号探秘大洋，深中通道踏浪海天，南极秦岭站崛起冰原，展现了中国人逐梦星辰大海的豪情壮志。This year, I have visited many places across the country and seen how our people enjoy their enriching lives. I saw the big, red Huaniu apples in Tianshui, Gansu and the fishing boats in Aojiao Village, Fujian loaded with their catches. I watched the millenium-old "Eastern Smile" in the Maiji Mountain Grottoes, and I learned more about good-neighborliness passed from generation to generation in Liuchixiang Alley. I enjoyed the hustle and bustle in Tianjin's Ancient Culture Street, and I saw how the people in Yinchuan's mixed-ethnic residential communities live together as one family. The concerns of the people about jobs and incomes, elderly and child care, education and medical services are always on my mind. This year, basic pension has been raised, and mortgage rates have dropped. Cross-province direct settlement of medical bills has been expanded, making it easier for people to seek medical treatment across the country. And consumer goods trade-in programs have improved people's lives... All these are real benefits to our people.今年，我到地方考察，看到大家生活多姿多彩。天水花牛苹果又大又红，东山澳角村渔获满舱。麦积山石窟“东方微笑”跨越千年，六尺巷礼让家风代代相传。天津古文化街人潮熙攘，银川多民族社区居民亲如一家。对大家关心的就业增收、“一老一小”、教育医疗等问题，我一直挂念。一年来，基础养老金提高了，房贷利率下调了，直接结算范围扩大方便了异地就医，消费品以旧换新提高了生活品质……大家的获得感又充实了许多。In the Paris Olympics, Chinese athletes raced to the top and achieved their best performance in Olympic Games held overseas, fully demonstrating the vigor and confidence of young Chinese. The PLA Navy and Air Force celebrated their 75th birthdays, and our servicemen and women are full of drive. When floods, typhoons and other natural disasters struck, members of the Communist Party of China and officials stepped forward to lead disaster relief efforts, and our people were of one mind and reached out to each other. People in all fields -- workers, builders and entrepreneurs, among others -- are working hard to fulfill their dreams. I presented awards to recipients of national medals and honorary titles. The honor belongs to them; it also belongs to every hard-working person who has lived up to their responsibilities.巴黎奥运赛场上，我国体育健儿奋勇争先，取得境外参赛最好成绩，彰显了青年一代的昂扬向上、自信阳光。海军、空军喜庆75岁生日，人民子弟兵展现新风貌。面对洪涝、台风等自然灾害，广大党员干部冲锋在前，大家众志成城、守望相助。无数劳动者、建设者、创业者，都在为梦想拼搏。我为国家勋章和国家荣誉称号获得者颁奖，光荣属于他们，也属于每一个挺膺担当的奋斗者。In a world of both transformation and turbulence, China, as a responsible major country, is actively promoting global governance reform and deepening solidarity and cooperation among the Global South. We are making deeper and more substantive advances in high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. The Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation was a full success. We put forward China's vision at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, BRICS, APEC, G20 and other bilateral and multilateral forums. We have contributed greatly to the maintenance of world peace and stability.当今世界变乱交织，中国作为负责任大国，积极推动全球治理变革，深化全球南方团结合作。我们推进高质量共建“一带一路”走深走实，成功举办中非合作论坛北京峰会，在上合、金砖、亚太经合组织、二十国集团等双边多边场合，鲜明提出中国主张，为维护世界和平稳定注入更多正能量。We celebrated the 75th anniversary of the founding of New China. With deep affection, we looked back at the sea change that has taken place across China since the birth of the People's Republic. Nurtured by our 5,000-plus years of continuous civilization, our country, China, is engraved not only on the bottom of the ancient bronze ritual wine vessel of He Zun, but also in the heart of every Chinese. At its Third Plenary Session, the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China sounded a clarion call for further deepening all-round reform. We will march forward in great strides to advance reform and opening up as the trend of our times. We will surely embrace even broader prospects in pursuing Chinese modernization in the course of reform and opening up.我们隆重庆祝新中国成立75周年，深情回望共和国的沧桑巨变。从五千多年中华文明的传承中一路走来，“中国”二字镌刻在“何尊”底部，更铭刻在每个华夏儿女心中。党的二十届三中全会胜利召开，吹响进一步全面深化改革的号角。我们乘着改革开放的时代大潮阔步前行，中国式现代化必将在改革开放中开辟更加广阔的前景。In 2025, we will fully complete the 14th Five-Year Plan. We will implement more proactive and effective policies, pursue high-quality development as a top priority, promote greater self-reliance and strength in science and technology, and maintain sound momentum in economic and social development. The Chinese economy now faces some new conditions, including challenges of uncertainties in the external environment and pressure of transformation from old growth drivers into new ones. But we can prevail with our hard work. As always, we grow in the wind and rain, and we get stronger through hard times. We must be confident.2025年，我们将全面完成“十四五”规划。要实施更加积极有为的政策，聚精会神抓好高质量发展，推动高水平科技自立自强，保持经济社会发展良好势头。当前经济运行面临一些新情况，有外部环境不确定性的挑战，有新旧动能转换的压力，但这些经过努力是可以克服的。我们从来都是在风雨洗礼中成长、在历经考验中壮大，大家要充满信心。Of all the jobs in front of us, the most important is to ensure a happy life for our people. Every family hopes that their children can have a good education, their seniors can enjoy good elderly services, and their youngsters can have more and better opportunities. These simple wishes are our people's aspirations for a better life. We should work together to steadily improve social undertakings and governance, build a harmonious and inclusive atmosphere, and settle real issues, big or small, for our people. We must bring more smiles to our people and greater warmth to their hearts.家事国事天下事，让人民过上幸福生活是头等大事。家家户户都盼着孩子能有好的教育，老人能有好的养老服务，年轻人能有更多发展机会。这些朴实的愿望，就是对美好生活的向往。我们要一起努力，不断提升社会建设和治理水平，持续营造和谐包容的氛围，把老百姓身边的大事小情解决好，让大家笑容更多、心里更暖。On the eve of the 25th anniversary of Macao's return to the motherland, I visited the city again, and I was gratified to see the new progress and changes there. We will unswervingly implement the policy of One Country, Two Systems to maintain long-term prosperity and stability in Hong Kong and Macao. We Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one and the same family. No one can ever sever the bond of kinship between us, and no one can ever stop China's reunification, a trend of the times.在澳门回归祖国25周年之际，我再到濠江之畔，新发展新变化令人欣喜。我们将坚定不移贯彻“一国两制”方针，保持香港、澳门长期繁荣稳定。两岸同胞一家亲，谁也无法割断我们的血脉亲情，谁也不能阻挡祖国统一的历史大势！As changes unseen in a century accelerate across the world, it is important to rise above estrangement and conflict with a broad vision, and care for the future of humanity with great passion. China will work with all countries to promote friendship and cooperation, enhance mutual learning among different cultures, and build a community with a shared future for mankind. We must jointly create a better future for the world.世界百年变局加速演进，需要以宽广胸襟超越隔阂冲突，以博大情怀关照人类命运。中国愿同各国一道，做友好合作的践行者、文明互鉴的推动者、构建人类命运共同体的参与者，共同开创世界的美好未来。Dreams and wishes may be far, but they can be fulfilled with dedicated pursuit. On the new journey of Chinese modernization, everyone is a key actor, every effort counts, and every ray of light shines.梦虽遥，追则能达；愿虽艰，持则可圆。中国式现代化的新征程上，每一个人都是主角，每一份付出都弥足珍贵，每一束光芒都熠熠生辉。Splendor adorns our motherland, and starlight graces every home. Let us greet the new year with hope. May our great country enjoy harmony and prosperity! May all your dreams come true! May you all have a new year of happiness and peace!河山添锦绣，星光映万家。让我们满怀希望，迎接新的一年。祝祖国时和岁丰、繁荣昌盛！祝大家所愿皆所成，多喜乐、长安宁！quantumn.量子

In this episode, Derek from One River Tea talks about how he found the Lapsang Souchong we source from the Zhang family up in the Masu Village of Tongmuguan. We start out musing a bit on craftsmanship, of products created with intentionality and soul as we wander up to the Tongmu mountain pass between Fujian and Jiangxi. While this area is restricted to non-residents (including Chinese people from other regions), we were able to meet the right person to open the gates for us and take us up to her beautiful village. If you're interested in the origin point of the world's first tea, we hope this episode delivers!As always, almost all the teas mentioned in the podcast are available on the Onerivertea.com website!

The Communists take the fortified city of Shanghang in southwestern Fujian.Further reading and watching:Agnes Smedley, The Great Road: The Life and Times of Chu Teh [Zhu De]The Battle for Dien Bien PhuPang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949Stuart Schram, ed., Mao's Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927-December 1930Some names from this episode:Lin Biao, commander of the first column of the Fourth Red ArmyLu Hanmin, Guomindang militaristLiu Angong, special envoy sent by Party Center to the Fourth Red ArmyEpisode artwork: Aerial view of modern ShanghangSupport the show

China announced on Tuesday a significant relaxation of its visa-free transit policy, extending the period of stay for foreign travelers and expanding the list of accessible ports and provincial-level regions, in order to further promote openness and people-to-people exchanges.12月17日，中国宣布全面放宽优化过境免签政策，延长外国游客的停留时间，并扩大省（区、市）入出境口岸名单，以进一步促进对外开放和人员往来。Eligible travelers are permitted to stay in the country for up to 240 hours, or 10 days, the National Immigration Administration said.国家移民管理局表示，符合条件的旅客最长可在中国停留240小时（10天）。The period of stay was previously restricted to 72 or 144 hours.先前的停留时间仅限于72或144小时。The policy revision, effective immediately, also includes a substantial expansion of designated ports and travel regions, enhancing flexibility for international visitors.立即生效的政策修订还包括大幅扩大的指定口岸和停留活动区域，进一步为国际旅客提高了灵活性。Eligible citizens from 54 countries, including Russia, Brazil, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada, can enter China visa-free when transiting to a third country or region. These travelers can now enter through any of the 60 ports across 24 provincial-level regions, up from 39 ports in 19 provincial-level regions, the NIA said.国家移民管理局规定，符合条件的俄罗斯、巴西、英国、美国、加拿大等54国人员，从中国过境前往第三国（地区）时，可免签来华。这些旅客现在可从24个省（区、市）60个对外开放口岸中任一口岸入境，而此前只有19个省（区、市）的39个口岸。The 21 newly included ports are located in the provinces of Shanxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Jiangxi, Shandong, Hunan, Hainan, Sichuan and Guizhou, and in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. The five newly included provinces for visa-free transit stays are Shanxi, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hainan and Guizhou.新增的21个口岸位于山西、江苏、浙江、安徽、福建、江西、山东、湖南、海南、四川、贵州以及广西壮族自治区等地。新纳入过境免签政策的五个省份是山西、安徽、江西、海南和贵州。China, which first implemented its visa-free transit policy in January 2013, has been improving it over the years. Mao Xu, deputy head of the NIA, said the 72- and 144-hour visa-free transit policy has been warmly welcomed both at home and abroad.中国于2013年1月首次实施过境免签政策，并多年来一直不断完善该政策。国家移民管理局副局长毛旭表示，72/144小时过境免签政策在境内外广受欢迎，引发热烈反响。From January to November, the number of visa-free transit travelers surged by more than 130 percent year-on-year, Mao noted. When the maximum duration of visa-free transit stay was restricted to 144 hours, more than 80 percent of travelers did not leave China until the last few hours, he said.毛旭介绍，从1月到11月，适用过境免签政策来华外国人数量同比上升130%以上。原来过境免签政策停留时间最长为144小时，80%以上人员临近期限届满方离开。"Many foreign friends hope they could spend more time traveling within China," Mao said, adding that the updated policy will allow them to explore more scenic places in the country as well as help them to get better acquainted with Chinese culture.“有不少外国朋友希望有更充足的时间在中国境内旅游”，毛旭表示，新政策将方便过境外国人更好地欣赏中华美景、体验中华文化。Anastasiia Shimko, from Russia, said the extension of visa-free transit stay will make China a more attractive destination for foreign travelers.来自俄罗斯的Anastasiia Shimko说，延长过境免签将使中国成为对外国游客更具吸引力的目的地。The 37-year-old, who is pursuing a doctoral degree at Beijing Language and Culture University, said the policy revision may also encourage her friends and family members in Russia to plan a stopover to China.37岁的Shimko正在北京语言大学攻读博士学位，她认为，政策的调整也可能鼓励她在俄罗斯的朋友和家人计划来中国进行中转。"When they plan a trip to a third country, they will perhaps choose to transfer in large Chinese cities, spend more time in China and understand the country better," she added.她补充说：“当他们计划去第三国旅行时，也许会选择在中国的大城市转机，在中国待更长的时间，更好地了解中国。”In recent years, China has taken a series of steps to streamline its inbound travel. Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said on Tuesday afternoon that China has reached full mutual visa exemption agreements with 26 countries, and adopted a unilateral visa-free policy for travelers from 38 countries.近年来，中国采取了一系列措施简化入境旅游手续。12月17日下午，外交部发言人林剑表示，中国已经同26个国家达成了全面免签，并对38个国家实行单方面免签政策。Liu Jia, deputy head of NIA's Department of Foreigner Management, said a notable feature of the new policy adjustment is the introduction of cross-regional travel, allowing foreign visitors to move freely across the designated areas of 24 specified provincial-level regions.国家移民管理局外国人管理司副司长柳佳介绍，新政策调整的最大特点是允许跨区域通行，即过境免签的外国人可以在24个省(区、市)停留活动区域内跨省域旅行。The updated policy allows foreign travelers to better plan their itineraries and arrange flexible travel routes, enabling multicity tourism and business activities across various regions, he said.柳佳表示，新政策便于外国人合理规划行程，灵活安排旅行路线，跨省多地进行旅游、商务等活动。Liu noted that the visa-free transit policy now covers not only eastern regions of China, which boast stronger economic prowess and a higher level of opening-up, but also destinations in central and western regions that are popular and capable of offering good services.柳佳指出，政策优化后，不仅覆盖经济实力较强、对外开放水平较高的东部省份，还将扩大到入境游需求旺盛、管理服务基础较好的中西部地区。It will better serve China's major strategies to boost development of the central and western regions, "creating a comprehensive opening-up pattern of coordinated development between the inland and coastal regions and between the east and the west", he added.柳佳补充，这将更好服务中部地区崛起、西部大开发等区域重大发展战略，“助力形成陆海内外联动、东西双向互济的全面开放格局”。streamlinev. 简化使效率更高itineraryn. 旅程；行程visa-free policy免签政策

When recalling the visit made by President Xi Jinping to the Premier School Affiliated to Hou Kong Middle School in Macao, Chao Lin-chai said she didn't realize that it had already been five years.Chao was then giving an open class in history to first graders at the school auditorium, ahead of the 20th anniversary of Macao's return to the motherland.The topic was to explore the reasons behind the strong vitality of the "one country, two systems "principle, an institutional arrangement for ensuring sustained prosperity and stability in the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions after their return to the motherland."I remember President Xi walked up to the students and said that history is the best subject, because by knowing our history, we can understand where we started from, what path we have taken, where we are now, where we are headed for and what the future holds," Chao said.Xi also praised the students for being quick-witted, and expressed his confidence that the young people of Macao will mature into "a capable generation of which we are proud of" and serve as the backbone of both Macao and the country, Chao said.Starting on Wednesday, Xi will be in Macao again to attend a gathering marking the 25th anniversary of Macao's return to the motherland. He will also conduct an inspection tour during his three-day stay."We are all very happy about President Xi's visit, which reflects his care and support for Macao. We also look forward to more opportunities for cooperation with the mainland that this trip might bring," Chao said, adding that local residents believe that Macao will continue to develop further and their quality of life will continue to improve.This is the seventh time in 25 years that Xi will set foot on Macao, which has a total area of 33.3 square kilometers.On June 10, 2000, less than half a year after the establishment of the Macao Special Administrative Region, Xi, then governor of East China's Fujian province, visited Macao to hold discussions on further strengthening the economic and trade cooperation between the province and the SAR.A year later, on Oct 23, Xi led a delegation to visit Macao and reached broad consensus with Ho Hau-wah, then chief executive of the SAR, on in-depth cooperation between Fujian and Macao.On Jan 19, 2005, Xi, then secretary of the Communist Party of China Zhejiang provincial committee, led a delegation to visit Macao for an event on economic and trade cooperation.Amid the global financial crisis in 2009, Xi, who was then Chinese vice-president, made a visit to Macao with the purpose of inspiring local people and helping them tide over the situation. During that trip, he announced that the central government had decided to commence the official development of Hengqin Island, Guangdong province, located less than 200 meters from Macao at its closest point.In 2014 and 2019, Xi attended gatherings marking the anniversaries of Macao's return to the motherland as Chinese president.Five years ago, in his speech marking the 20th anniversary of Macao's return to the motherland and the inauguration of the fifth-term government of the Macao SAR, Xi said that over the past two decades, the SAR government and the region's people had worked closely to usher in Macao's best period of development in history.Noting that the world is undergoing changes unseen in a century and Macao is facing new internal and external dynamics, Xi urged the SAR government and all sections of society to "build on what Macao has accomplished and take all undertakings in the SAR to the next level".New accomplishmentIn the past five years, the SAR government has received strong support from the central government to overcome challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, and launched a series of innovative measures to promote economic development, social stability and cultural inheritance, achieving remarkable results.Last year, as the robust resurgence in tourism propelled Macao's economy to grow 80.5 percent year-on-year, the SAR was ranked fifth-wealthiest among regions globally, according to a report published by Global Finance magazine in May.In the first three quarters of this year, Macao's GDP increased 11.5 percent year-on-year to reach 301 billion patacas ($38 billion), data from the Statistics and Census Service showed.Macao was primarily relying on its casino industry to drive economic growth. However, the SAR government is now making dedicated and determined efforts to diversify Macao's industrial structure to reduce its dependence on the gaming sector.Xu Chang, a professor with the "One Country Two Systems "Research Centre at Macao Polytechnic University, said that Macao has revised its gaming law and regulations to strengthen supervision of casino operations and tackle gambling-related crimes in recent years."Such efforts are of great significance for guiding this traditional lifeline industry toward legal, orderly and healthy development," he said.Last year, the SAR government released a development plan for Macao's economic diversification from 2024 through 2028. It is the first such plan drafted for Macao.The document outlines the"1+4"appropriate diversification development strategy that aims to enhance Macao's function as "One Centre "for integrated tourism and leisure, while facilitating the development of "four emerging industries", namely the traditional Chinese medicine and the health sector, modern financial services, high-tech industries, and cultural, sports and convention services.According to Xu, a series of public service facilities to improve people's well-being, such as government housing units for the elderly and low-income residents, in addition to convenient traveling options between Macao and Zhuhai, Guangdong, via new ports and a light railway link, have substantially enhanced the quality of life for Macao residents."All these will help carry forward the fine tradition of loving the motherland and loving Macao, and speed up the SAR's integration into the modernization process of the motherland, thereby ensuring the steady implementation of the 'one country, two systems' principle," Xu said.When meeting with Sam Hou-fai, Macao's incoming chief executive, in Beijing last month, President Xi said the central authorities will stay committed to fully and faithfully implementing the "one country, two systems" principle and ensure there is no deviation or distortion in its implementation.The principle has proved to be the best answer to the question of Macao left by history and the best institutional guarantee for the long-term prosperity and stability of Macao after its return to the motherland.Wang Yu, a professor with the Faculty of Law at the University of Macau, said it is necessary to have a clear understanding of the principle as an unprecedented pioneering cause."That's why President Xi has once and again emphasized that it must be applied without deviation or distortion to ensure Macao's steady and long-term progress," Wang said.Xu, from Macao Polytechnic University, said the fact that fellow compatriots in Macao can truly feel the care and concern of the motherland serves as the fundamental foundation for implementing the "one country, two systems "principle without deviation or distortion.Guarantee of progressIn recent years, the central government has launched a series of policies and measures that benefit Macao and its people, continuously injecting new impetus into the SAR's long-term prosperity and stability and fully demonstrating the central government's care and love for Macao.In 2021, the central authorities decided to build the Guangdong-Macao in-depth cooperation zone in Hengqin, making the island an important new growth point for Macao's economy.As the nation moves to advance Chinese modernization, it was outlined in the resolution adopted at the third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee in July that efforts need to be made to improve relevant mechanisms to see Hong Kong and Macao playing greater roles in China's opening-up to the outside world.During their meeting in Beijing, Xi told Sam that this expression has pointed out the direction for Macao to integrate into Chinese modernization and achieve better development, creating a new historical opportunity for the SAR's development.Xu, from the polytechnic university, said that Macao should leverage its advantages in terms of location to advance China's reform and opening-up.The region should also use its traditional relations with Portuguese-speaking countries, convenient customs clearance in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the unique policy advantages of "one country, two systems" to make pioneering contributions to exploring the successful path toward Chinese modernization, he added.

Last time we spoke about the Fujian Rebellion of 1933. In the midst of political turmoil, the 19th Route Army, once vital in campaigns for Chiang Kai-shek, found itself at odds with his leadership during Japan's invasion of Shanghai in 1932. Facing internal rebellion and external threats, Chiang Kai-Shek prioritized fighting the Communists over the Japanese. The 19th Route Army, disillusioned, resisted both Japan and the CCP but ultimately faced betrayal when Chiang Kai-Shek forced them into civil conflict in Fujian, deepening divisions within China. In 1933, Chiang Kai-shek faced opposition for his appeasement of Japan, leading the 19th Route Army, frustrated by his inaction, to plot a coup. Under Chen Mingshu's leadership, they sought alliances against Chiang Kai-Shek but struggled amid civil war pressures and Red Army conflicts. On November 20, they declared the People's Revolutionary Government in Fuzhou, aiming to unify against Japanese aggression. However, lack of support led to rapid failure; by January 1934, Chiang's forces crushed the rebellion, and its leaders fled, marking the end of the Fujian Revolution.   #130 The Long March Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. As we saw 2 episodes ago, the CCP had been taken over by the 28 Bolsheviks and Otto Braun who initiated a dramatic offensive strategy for the Red Army. Unfortunately this also came during the 5th encirclement campaign. This resulted in repeated defeats for the Red Army and the gradual shrinking of the Soviet area. In April 1934, the Central Red Army engaged in a decisive battle against the Nationalist Army in Guangchang, Jiangxi Province, suffering severe losses and now faced a critical situation. As the NRA's grip tightened, the Red Army and the Central Committee of the CCP sought new strategies. With offensive tactics no longer feasible, the Red Army considered alternative approaches to navigate its current challenges. One overarching strategy involved co-opting the NRA by harnessing nationalistic sentiment to form a united front against the Japanese. The leadership of the Red Army hoped that by identifying a common enemy, they could temporarily alleviate the conflict with the KMT. In July 1934, they attempted to implement this strategy by deploying the Seventh Red Army Corps to western Fujian to join the 10th Red Army, commanded by Su Yu. This combined force was labeled the Anti-Japanese Vanguard Column to attract Nationalist support; however, the propaganda effort failed. The NRA subsequently obliterated the Red Army Column, resulting in the death or execution of most of its members. Approximately 800 survivors escaped and regrouped as a guerrilla unit under Su Yu, continuing to fight independently until the establishment of the Second United Front in 1937. Another breakout occurred on July 23, 1934, when the 6th Red Army Corps, operating from the Hunan-Guangdong border, traversed Hunan and joined forces with the Third Red Army, forming the Second Front Red Army, led by He Long, on October 22, 1934. It is uncertain whether either operation impacted the KMT. The escalating costs and ongoing casualties placed a heavy burden on the Red Army, complicating its ability to maintain its position. A secure new location was essential for the Red Army to reorganize, resupply, and recruit personnel. In August 1934, Bo Gu and Otto Braun secretly decided to abandon the Jiangxi Soviet. Their initial plan was to head southwest towards Hunan, seeking friendlier territory and aiming to connect with the 2nd Front Red Army. While the precise whereabouts of the 2nd Front Red Army were unclear, the leadership considered Hunan the most probable destination and devised a route to reach it. Meanwhile, the rest of the Red Army intensified its recruitment efforts, raised funds, and gathered supplies. On the night of October 10, 1934, the leadership of the Red Army issued marching orders to the 1st Front Red Army, which advanced southwest in two columns, consisting of the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 8th, and 9th Red Army Corps. The total strength of this force was about 87,000 soldiers. Many of these soldiers were unaware that it would be their final sight of the Jiangxi Soviet, as most believed they were simply executing another maneuver to outflank the KMT and strike at its rear. A contingent of 16,000 troops, including several wounded soldiers like their leader Chen Yi, remained in Ruijin to defend against and delay the KMT forces, providing the First Front Red Army with the necessary time to depart unnoticed. Thus, began what has famously been called the Long March. The first few days of the Long March were relatively calm. The Red Army steered clear of significant confrontations with the NRA forces and easily maneuvered through a gap in the encirclement. Previously, Zhou Enlai had brokered a truce with the Guangdong and Guangxi warlords involved in the Extermination campaign, allowing the Red Army safe passage through the region. Meanwhile, the Red Army troops remaining in Ruijin fiercely resisted the NRA, effectively masking the fact that the main force had already departed. Until November 8, Nationalist newspapers claimed that the Red Army was nearly annihilated. The 1st Front Red Army traveled at night, using small trails to evade detection and attacks from the air. The troop formation included the 1st and 9th Red Army Corps on the left flank, the 3rd and 8th Red Army Corps on the right, with leadership and logistical units positioned in the center, while the 5th Red Army Corps provided rear guard support. The Red Army employed porters to transport heavy equipment, such as printing presses, X-ray machines, and currency. Additional porters carried litters for the wounded and key leaders. During this period, several Red Army leaders, including Zhou Enlai, were unwell or injured, while others, like Mao Zedong, rested in litters during the day after long nights of planning. By mid-November 1934, the NRA learned that the Red Army had broken free from their encirclement and was heading westward, prompting them to pursue. Observing the Red Army's movements, Chiang Kai-shek and the NRA leadership inferred that southern Hunan was likely their destination, so they deployed troops accordingly. The Red Army advanced rapidly to the west, aiming to cross the Xiang River before the NRA could catch up. On November 27, 1934, the Red Army reached Daoxian and launched an assault on the NRA blockhouses guarding the Xiang River crossings. They quickly overran these defenses and began moving troops across the river. However, the central column of the Red Army, hindered by heavy equipment and injured soldiers, fell behind the main force. On November 28, the NRA struck the rear elements of the Red Army before they could reach the river. For 5 days, the Red Army engaged in a fierce rear guard action, trying to disengage from the NRA and successfully cross the river. By December 2, 1934, all Red Army units had successfully crossed the Xiang River, albeit at a significant cost. The Red Army lost over two divisions from the 3rd and 5th Red Army Corps, leaving just over 30,000 soldiers remaining in their ranks. Furthermore, much of the Army's heavy equipment and supplies were abandoned along the way to lighten their load. After the Red Army crossed the Xiang River, it continued to evade direct confrontations with the NRA. The challenging battle at the Xiang River had a profound impact on the Red Army, leading to a rise in desertions as soldiers recognized that the movement had turned into an exodus from Jiangxi. Many porters responsible for transporting heavy equipment also began to leave during the night, especially while navigating the difficult, muddy trails in the mountains. The Red Army made several attempts to head north to join He Long and the 2nd Front Red Army, but each time, they found their routes blocked by the NRA. As a result, they altered their plans and headed west toward Guizhou, aiming to reach Sichuan and connect with the 4th Front Red Army to establish a new Soviet. Upon arriving in Liping, Guizhou province, the Red Army leadership decided on December 18th to advance north toward Zunyi in pursuit of their goal in Sichuan. Initially, Guiyang, the provincial capital, was the intended destination, but it had been fortified with seven NRA divisions. In contrast, Zunyi appeared to be a more feasible target as the second-largest city in the province, defended only by local Guizhou forces. On January 1st, 1935, the Red Army began its march toward Zunyi, crossing the Wu River under heavy fire from Guizhou provincial troops. Within three days, they successfully crossed the river and continued toward Zunyi. On January 7, the Red Army launched an attack on Zunyi, which fell two days later. Following the capture of the city, the Red Army initiated a recruitment drive, adding 30,000 new recruits to its ranks. To enhance its mobility, they buried or abandoned much of their heavy equipment. The Red Army had originally planned to remain in the area for an extended period to refit, reorganize, and bolster their forces. The staff of the Central Cadre Unit's Red Army Medical School seized the opportunity to conduct a week-long course on basic first aid for soldiers. However, local conditions hindered any long-term presence. The area's primary crop was opium, useful for barter but inadequate for sustaining the Red Army. Additionally, the city's position along a river bend restricted the Red Army's escape routes in the event of an NRA attack. Given these challenges, Communist leadership convened a conference to deliberate on their military strategy. The conference held on January 15th, 1935, marked a pivotal moment in Communist history. In attendance were Politburo members, including Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Chen Yun, Zhou Enlai, Luo Fu, and Bo Gu, along with Liu Bocheng, Liu Shaoqi, Lin Biao, Nie Rongzhen, Peng Dehuai, and Otto Braun. The primary focus of the meeting was the unsuccessful military strategy employed during the 5th Extermination Campaign. Bo Gu and Zhou Enlai opened the discussion, both acknowledging their mistakes and accepting responsibility for the failures. Mao Zedong followed with a sharp critique of the strategy's use of "short, swift thrusts" and the lack of cooperation with the Fujian 19th route NRA Army. The conference continued for three more days, during which much of the Red Army leadership criticized Bo Gu and Otto Braun's approach, aligning themselves with Mao. By the end of the meeting, key leaders of the CCP and Red Army had distanced themselves from the 28 Bolsheviks, effectively making Mao Zedong the de facto leader of the CCP, despite not being formally elected to any new position at Zunyi. A significant change was the disbanding of the triumvirate leadership of Bo Gu, Otto Braun, and Zhou Enlai. Zhu De and Zhou Enlai were assigned to lead the Red Army, which then moved towards Sichuan to connect with the 4th Front Red Army. Departing Zunyi, the Red Army comprised four army corps: the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 9th Red Army Corps, although all were considerably smaller than before. The total strength of the 1st Front Red Army was approximately 35,000 soldiers. The army advanced north through Tongzi, gathering gold and opium to procure food and supplies for the journey. The 1st Army Corps, led by Lin Biao, took the lead in searching for a route to cross the Yangtze River. While attempting to secure a crossing near Chishui, the remainder of the Red Army engaged in a fierce battle with a Sichuan NRA force near Tucheng. The fighting escalated to such a degree that Mao Zedong ordered Lin Biao and his corps to return and assist. Ultimately, on January 29th, 1935, the Red Army lost contact with the enemy and abandoned its plan to cross the Yangtze River, instead retreating west to Zhaxi in Yunnan province to evade NRA forces. However, this provided only a temporary reprieve, as more NRA troops moved west into Sichuan, covering all potential crossing points along the Yangtze. Faced with limited options, Mao proposed an audacious plan on February 7th: the Red Army would split into separate columns and head back east into Guizhou to mislead the NRA, then reunite and proceed southwest into Yunnan to find a safer crossing point over the Yangtze. Executing this plan, the Red Army conducted a series of feints, diversionary attacks, and deception operations to confuse NRA leadership, as well as some of its own ranks. Mao Zedong aimed to create an opening for the Red Army to escape into Yunnan and cross the Yangtze in the Jinsha River area. The Red Army began moving east, achieving victories over the NRA, such as at Loushan Pass, where they captured about a division's worth of personnel and equipment. They continued eastward, seizing the city of Maotai and acquiring additional gold and opium for trade. In March 1935, Mao was appointed as the political commissar of the Red Army, with Zhu De serving as the commander-in-chief. His leadership role was further solidified when he was included in the triumvirate Military Council alongside Zhou Enlai and Wang Jiaxiang. Mao Zedong then initiated a deception operation, sending the 9th Red Army Corps north as a feint toward the Yangtze River, intending to reinforce NRA intelligence assessments. Chiang believed that these erratic movements indicated the Red Army was preparing for a decisive battle. Consequently, he relocated his NRA headquarters to Guiyang and deployed nearly all of Guizhou's NRA forces to the Yangtze area to encircle and eliminate the Red Army. This deployment inadvertently opened a north-south corridor in Guizhou, allowing the Red Army to move south towards Guiyang, which was now vulnerable due to the concentration of NRA forces along the Yangtze. Capitalizing on these fears, Mao sent additional Red Army units toward the provincial capital. In response, Chiang hurriedly redirected NRA forces from Yunnan to bolster defenses in Guiyang, thus creating yet another escape route for the Red Army. The Red Army swiftly exploited this corridor and advanced into Yunnan. They employed a similar feint tactic as used in Guiyang, deploying units from the 1st Red Army Corps to threaten Kunming. With the main Yunnan forces still occupied in Guiyang, the Yunnan government was forced to reallocate its frontier and militia troops to defend the capital, thus opening one final corridor for the Red Army to escape through a crossing at the Jinsha River. By April 1935, the Red Army had executed one of its most daring maneuvers, evading the NRA forces by making a sweeping maneuver into Yunnan. Despite this strategy, the Red Army still needed to cross the Yangtze River. One section of the river, known as the Jinsha River, flows from Tibet through Yunnan to Sichuan and offered excellent crossing points for the Red Army. On April 29th, Mao Zedong identified three crossing locations. The 1st Red Army Corps was assigned to cross in the north at Longjie, while the 3rd Red Army Corps would cross in the center at Hongmen. The Central Cadre Unit was designated to use the southern crossing point at Jiaopingdu. Meanwhile, the Fifth and Ninth Army Corps were tasked with rear guard operations and would cross at the nearest crossing point. Although the 1st and 3rd Red Army Corps struggled to secure their crossing locations, the Central Cadre Unit successfully acquired seven boats, established security on both riverbanks, and commenced a ferrying operation that would last nine days. Consequently, the 1st and 3rd Red Army Corps abandoned their original crossing points and moved to Jiaopingdu. The 3rd Red Army Corps crossed on May 7th, followed by the 1st Red Army Corps the next day. The 5th Red Army Corps maintained its rear guard before quickly crossing at Jiaopingdu on May 9th. Upon reaching Sichuan, the weary Red Army troops began to contemplate their next steps. After nearly nine months of travel, with minimal rest and significant losses, the Red Army's numbers had dwindled to around 25,000 soldiers, with much of their heavy equipment abandoned along their retreat route. They attempted to seize Huili but were met with fierce resistance from the 24th NRA Division. Outside the city, Red Army leaders held a conference on May 12th and resolved to continue north through Sichuan, aiming to cross the Dadu River to join forces with the 4th Front Red Army. As the Red Army advanced through the territory of the Yi minority, they faced hostility from the Yi people, who harbored animosity toward the Han and attacked straggling Red Army soldiers, stealing their weapons and clothing and leaving many to perish. Fortunately, Liu Bocheng and his vanguard unit from the 1st Red Army Corps negotiated a truce with the Yi, securing safe passage in exchange for promises of equal land rights and treatment after the war. On May 23rd, the Red Army reached Anshunchang along the Dadu River. Their initial attempts to cross by ferry were thwarted by strong NRA defenses on the opposite bank, and they only managed to secure three boats, which were insufficient for a crossing. On May 27th, Red Army leaders decided to take a calculated risk and dispatched troops northward to seize Luding Bridge. This iron-chain suspension bridge, located along a challenging trail through the mountain passes, crossed the Dadu River. In a remarkable act of bravery, the 4th Regiment of the 2nd Division, 1st Red Army Corps, led by Yang Chengwu, marched nearly 100 miles in under 3 days to secure the bridge. Despite facing a defending NRA brigade on sheer cliffs, the 4 Regiment acted swiftly and captured the bridge amid constant gunfire, with only 18 of the 22 men who launched the final assault surviving. Their sacrifice allowed the Red Army to evade the main KMT force and successfully cross the Dadu River, ultimately establishing themselves in Hualingping for refitting operations. However, the challenges for the Red Army persisted even after crossing the Dadu. They were still unaware of the 4th Front Red Army's location, with one possible area being directly north behind the Jiajin Mountains. To avoid detection from NRA forces or ambushes by Tibetans, Mao opted for a central walking trail through the Jiajin Mountains rather than the more accessible eastern and western routes. For many survivors of the Long March, the leg through the Jiajin Mountains proved to be the most arduous and challenging segment. The Red Army soldiers faced hunger, cold, thirst, avalanches, and the high altitude as they attempted to traverse the snow-capped peaks with little more than the clothes on their backs. On June 12th, the first units of the Red Army arrived at Danwei, located at the northern foot of the Jiajin Mountains. By June 14th, the remaining soldiers descended from the mountains and linked up with Li Xiannian, a liaison officer from the 4th Front Red Army. Approximately 10,000 soldiers endured the harsh conditions and made it down the mountain. Thankfully, they rejoined their fellow Red Army comrades, allowing them to take a much-needed rest. On June 18, 1935, the 1st and 4th Front Red Armies finally connected at Lianghekou. The Fourth Front Red Army fared significantly better than its counterpart, having originated from the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet before relocating to the Shaanxi-Sichuan border and settling in northwest Sichuan in March 1935. Their forces numbered nearly 80,000, surpassing the 1st Front Red Army. Some soldiers from the 1st Front looked on with admiration and envy at the robust condition of the 4th Front soldiers and their horses. On June 26th, the leadership of both armies convened to discuss their future movements. Mao Zedong proposed advancing north to Gansu, then heading east toward Ningxia, with the ultimate goal of reaching Mongolia to establish communication with the Soviet Union. Conversely, Zhang Guotao suggested moving west to Xinjiang, aiming to connect with the Soviet Union via the Central Asian Republics. Beneath these military discussions lay political maneuvering as both Mao Zedong and Zhang Guotao sought to assert dominance over the Red Army. Ultimately, both sides maintained cordial relations and established a unified strategy and command. The Red Army was set to advance north to southern Gansu to establish a Soviet presence in the border areas. Zhang Guotao was appointed vice-chairman of the Military Council. By June 30, the 1st Front Red Army had moved into the Grasslands, with Zhang Guotao and the 4th Front Red Army following a day later. The meeting at Lianghekou did not resolve the political tensions between the factions led by Zhang Guotao and Mao Zedong, and these conflicts intensified over time. While Zhang Guotao continued to advocate for a westward movement toward Xinjiang, he also sought to recruit key leaders from the 1st Front Red Army to support his cause, but to no avail. Mao Zedong remained steadfast in his commitment to the agreed plan to proceed to Gansu and took measures to prevent any subversion from Zhang Guotao's camp. Tensions escalated during a conference at Maoergai on August 6th. The Red Army had arrived at Maoergai the previous day to rest and reorganize. According to one account, Mao Zedong held the meeting in the neighboring town of Shawo, securing the location ahead of Zhang Guotao arrival. As the sole representative from the 4th Front Red Army on the Politburo and Central Committee, Zhang Guotao intended to introduce additional representatives to enhance his influence, but they were unable to bypass security. This infuriated Zhang Guotao, highlighting the political maneuvering at play. Another account claims the meeting took place at Zhang Guotao's 11th Red Army Division headquarters, with his loyal soldiers ensuring that Mao Zdong could not undermine him. Regardless, no agreements were reached during this meeting. A second meeting was held on August 20th at Maoergai, resulting in a negotiated settlement. The Red Army remained under the command of Zhu De but was divided into two columns. The Right Column included the 1st and 3rd Red Army Corps, led by Lin Biao and Peng Dehuai, respectively, and also incorporated the 13th and 3th Red Armies from the 4th Front. Mao, Zhou Enlai, Bo Gu, and Otto Braun traveled with the Right Column. The Left Column comprised the remainder of the 4th Front Army, along with the 5th and 9th Red Army Corps, and was led by Zhang Guotao and Liu Bocheng, with Zhu De accompanying them. Both columns would advance north while skirting the Grasslands, with the Left Column heading toward Aba and the Right Column toward Baxi. Once the plan was finalized, they began their movement into the Grasslands on August 23rd. In the Grasslands, the Red Army encountered conditions as challenging as those in the mountains. This region was home to a minority population, and the Tibetan locals were just as hostile as the Yi had been, attacking and killing many stragglers. Food sources were scarce, and many Red Army soldiers were unfamiliar with edible plant species. Water supplies were also limited, as most sources were stagnant and contaminated. The soldiers ended up consuming wheat kernels, which severely upset their digestive systems. The trailing units faced even greater difficulties, as the vanguard troops turned the dirt paths into muddy pits, leaving little food for foraging. The Right Column reached Baxi on August 27th, suffering heavy losses during the week-long trek; the 3rd Red Army Corps alone lost 400 soldiers. The Left Column progressed more slowly and arrived in Aba about a week later. Once they exited the Grasslands, the Red Army faced another internal struggle that threatened their retreat. On September 3rd, Zhang Guotao sent a wireless message to Mao Zedong and the Right Column, stating that his forces were stationed at Aba and that the White River, north of Aba, was impassable. Mao Zedong urged Zhang Guotao to adhere to the Maoergai decision and even offered additional troops to assist in crossing the river, which Zhang Guotao politely declined. On September 9th, Mao Zedong learned of a secret message Zhang Guotao had sent to his aide in the Right Column. Zhang Guotao wanted the Right Column to move back south through the Grasslands to reunite the two columns and convene a meeting to discuss a new strategy, indicating an intention to initiate an intraparty power struggle. Fearing that Zhang Guotao would use his superior numbers to impose his strategy on the Red Army, the 1st and 3rd Red Army Corps quietly departed Baxi and continued north to Gansu. This approximately 8,000-strong force arrived at Ejie and held an emergency conference. The Red Army reorganized its forces as the Anti-Japanese Vanguard Force to garner support from the local population. They also issued a “Resolution Concerning the Mistakes of Comrade Zhang Guotao,” reprimanding his actions without expelling him from the Communist Party. On September 14th, the Red Army continued north and captured the Lazikou Pass, defeating two of Zhang Guotao's forces as he and his 4th Front Army moved south toward Chengdu. Zhang Guotao was furious upon discovering that Mao Zdong and his loyal Red Army troops had left without notice, but he chose not to pursue them and instead redirected his troops toward Chengdu. The 4th Front Red Army achieved initial victories in October 1935 against the NRA at Baoxing and Tianquan, coming within sixty miles of the Sichuan provincial capital. In response to this threat, Chiang Kai-shek dispatched over 80 NRA regiments to defend Chengdu. The NRA launched a counteroffensive at Baizhang, inflicting heavy losses on the Fourth Front Red Army, which retreated in disarray back to Ganzi in western Sichuan province, where they would remain until they linked up with the 2nd Front Army in June 1936. As the 4th Front Army moved south toward Sichuan, the Red Army completed the final stage of its arduous journey. On September 21st, 1935, Mao Zedong and the Anti-Japanese Vanguard arrived in Hadapu, a Han city in Gansu province. The soldiers rejoiced at being among their own ethnic group and took a few days to rest. During their stay, Mao Zedong and other leaders of the Red Army learned that a Soviet force, led by Liu Zhidan, a friend of Mao Zedong, was present in northern Shaanxi, supporting the 25th and 26th Red Armies. 10 days later, the Anti-Japanese Vanguard left Hadapu and swiftly moved west to avoid the NRA's Muslim cavalry units, aiming to connect with their allied units in Shaanxi. On October 19, 1935, Mao Zedong joined forces with the 25th and 26th Red Armies and settled near Wuqi. The remnants of the 1st Front Red Army had completed their year-long, 6,000-mile journey with approximately 4,000 soldiers. Once they reached the relative safety of Shaanxi, the Red Army reverted to its traditional strategy of political mobilization to gather resources, recruit new members, and propagate the communist revolution. On February 5th, 1936, the 1st Front Red Army moved east to carry out political mobilization efforts. Over the following two months, the Red Army defeated seven provincial divisions, capturing more than 4,000 soldiers. They also recruited 8,000 new members, raised $300,000 in revenue, and added 20 counties in Shanxi to their new Soviet. In May, the 1st Front Army advanced westward for a two-month operation, acquiring over 2,000 rifles and 400 horses, thereby expanding the Soviet's reach into Gansu and Ningxia. However, these efforts were ultimately thwarted by NRA forces, compelling the Red Army to relocate from Wuqi to Bao'an in June 1936. In October 1936, the 2nd and 4th Front Armies finally reached Bao'an, marking the completion of the Long March for the Red Army. With all three units reunited, the Red Army War College reopened in Dengjiaqiao, with Liu Bocheng eventually returning to lead it. Additionally, the Red Army military school began training in Tai'erwan. From 1934 to 1936, the Red Army evaded annihilation through a combination of courage, determination, and fortunate circumstances. Enduring harsh conditions and traversing some of China's most challenging terrain to escape the NRA and provincial forces, the Red Army demonstrated remarkable resilience. Mao Zedong skillfully navigated the political landscape within the Red Army, emerging as its supreme leader. The Communists also capitalized on the challenges facing the NRA and KMT leadership. The Red Army effectively utilized Chiang Kai-Sheks inability to exert full control over his subordinate warlords and their military units to avoid unnecessary confrontations. Upon reaching Shaanxi in late 1935, the survivors of the Long March were not only battle-hardened by their experiences but also carried valuable lessons learned from previous campaigns. In the relative security of the new Soviet, the Red Army expanded its ranks and resumed training and mobilization efforts. The Red Army had survived its greatest challenge to date and was poised to develop into the professional military force that would ultimately defeat the NRA and overthrow the KMT government. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Thus not only did the Red Army escape death at the hands of the NRA, but the experience of the Long March would actually contribute to the downfall of the NRA. Mao Zedong had emerged a top figure in the CCP and now would oversee it and the Red Army's future development until the ultimate clash with Chiang Kai-Shek for the future of China.

Tai-Ex opening The Tai-Ex opened down 44 points this morning from yesterday's close, at 23,002 on turnover of 3.4 billion NT. The market rebounded on Thursday, after Wall Street resumed its upward climb as an update on inflation in America appeared to clear the way for more help for the economy from the U-S Federal Reserve. AIT says Chinese Activity Not Response to Lai's US Stopovers The American Institute in Taiwan says it doesn't believe increased Chinese military activity near Taiwan this week was a response to President Lai Ching-te's recent stopovers in the United States. The institute believes the "elevated activity in the East China Sea and South China Sea follows a broader increase in China's military posture (姿態) and military exercises over the last several years .. .. and it does not see this wider activity as a response to Lai's transit (轉機)." An A-I-T spokesperson says the United States continues to call on Beijing to "avoid any destabilizing or escalatory actions (升級動作) that might undermine regional peace and stability… and will continue coordinating with allies and partners regarding our shared concerns." The statement was issued by A-I-T following China's designating of seven areas east of Zhejiang and Fujian provinces from Monday to Wednesday as "temporary reserved areas" of airspace (空域保留區). Government Seeking Private Investment in Public Infrastructure The National Development Council says it's seeking private investment in public infrastructure (基礎建設) projects. According to the N-D-C's Economic Development Department, the government is set to create a ministerial-level mechanism (機制) to encourage such investment in order to "boost cooperation between the government and the private sector in jointly building Taiwan." Department head Chiu Chiu-ying says the mechanism will bring together officials from the N-D-C, the Ministry of Finance and the Financial Supervisory Commission to work with private enterprises … .. who are interested in investing in "major public infrastructure projects" projected to "yield stable returns." Chiu also says it's hoped that bringing in private capital (私人資金) for public projects will help alleviate financial burdens on both central and local governments. Lows of 11°C Forecast for North and Center The Central Weather Administration says a continental cold air mass is forecast to bring temperatures in the north and center down to 11 degrees early Sunday morning. According to the administration's forecast center, cold air mass will affect Taiwan from tomorrow through Sunday. The effects of the cold front will be the strongest on early Sunday morning - with lows of between 11 and 13 degrees forecast for the north and center, while other areas could see lows of between 14 and 15 degrees. The mercury will rebound slightly on Monday. However, another cold air mass is forecast to begin affecting the island next Friday. Nato calls on nations to ramp up defense spending In global news, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is urging European nations to shift to a wartime mindset… He also pointed up a need to ramp up (增加) defense spending to counter an aggressive Russia… as Sagher Meghani reports. US Mideast Initiatve Meanwhile… Top U.S. officials are in the Middle East pressing for stability in Syria and an end to Israel's 14-month war in the Gaza Strip in a last-ditch diplomatic push by the outgoing Biden administration. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Jordan and Turkey on Thursday for talks on how to ensure a peaceful transition of power in Syria following the ouster of longtime President Bashar Assad. National security adviser Jake Sullivan is in Israel in a bid to wrap up a ceasefire with Hamas militants. Sullivan expressed cautious optimism that conditions are ripe for halting (中止) the conflict. South Korea latest And… The leader of South Korea's ruling party is expressing support for impeaching President Yoon Suk Yeoul over his martial law declaration. Local media reports say Han Dong-hoon now says removing Yoon is the only viable option left to restore politicial stability (恢復穩定政治). On Thursday, the embattled president defended his martial law declaration, which some media reports considred a confession of treason. Han voiced his support days before South Korea's National Assembly holds a second vote calling for Yoon to be impeached.

Last time we spoke about the fifth encirclement campaign against the CCP. After surviving four encirclement campaigns by the NRA, the CCP faced an intensified fifth campaign in 1933, as the Japanese invaded Manchuria and North China. Despite growing in numbers, the CCP struggled against the KMT's modernized army, equipped with German weapons and strategies. A combination of blockades, fortified positions, and superior tactics eroded Red Army strength. By 1934, after significant losses, the Red Army retreated, marking the campaign's end and signaling the start of the CCP's eventual Long March. In the battle between the NRA and the Red Army, the NRA employed strategic counterinsurgency techniques to block Red infiltration and gained local support through loyalty and economic pressure. Meanwhile, the Red Army, hampered by internal issues and a shift in leadership towards the Twenty-eight Bolsheviks, struggled with morale and mass recruitment of untrained peasants. As the Red Army attempted aggressive tactics and reforms, they ultimately faced defeat, leading to their strategic retreat in the historic Long March.   #129 The Fujian Rebellion of 1933 Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. In the previous episode, during the fifth encirclement campaign, I briefly mentioned a rebellion that took place in Fujian province. Now this story actually crosses over a few we will be covering, such as the fifth encirclement campaign, already mentioned but also the Japanese invasion of Shanghai in 1931, part of the Mukden incident. So its a bit tricky for me to cover this one without giving away too much of what we will be speaking about later, but I will try my best to be mysterious.  Now the key player I guess you can say to this story is the 19th Route Army. The 19th Route Army's history can be traced back to the 1st division of the Guangdong Army. In 1926, this division underwent a significant transformation, becoming the 4th Army of the NRA. At that time, Li Jishen was appointed as the commander, with Chen Mingshu serving as the commander of the newly formed 10th Division. Other notable figures included Jiang Guangnai as the deputy commander and Cai Tingkai leading a subordinate regiment. All of these men will be key players in the Rebellion.  During the Northern Expedition, the 4th NRA Army distinguished itself with numerous successful campaigns. The 10th Division was subsequently expanded into the 11th Army. This new formation went on to play a pivotal role in during the Central Plains War of 1930, assisting Chiang Kai-shek in his struggle against warlords' anti-chiang coalition. As a result of this success, the 11th Army was reorganized into the 19th Route Army, with Jiang Guangnai assuming the role of overall commander and Cai Tingkai becoming the army commander. Following these developments, the 19th Route Army then went on to be part of the third encirclement campaign. Now again not to give away too much, but in 1931 the Mukden incident broke out initiating a 15 year war between China and Japan. Most of the action took place in Manchuria, pouring slightly into Northern China and Inner Mongolia, but there was an expedition performed in Shanghai. In many ways it was like a dress rehearsal for what would go down in 1937 during the battle of Shanghai. During the crisis, known then as the September 18th Incident, the 19th Route Army was redeployed to Shanghai.This transition occurred during a tumultuous period when Chiang Kai-shek faced significant political pressure and was forced to resign. The Nanjing National Government, dominated by the Guangdong faction, saw Chen Mingshu appointed as the commander of the garrison responsible for defending Beijing and Shanghai. Now this was a hyper chaotic time for China, and a particularly rough time for Chiang Kai-Shek. Chiang Kai-Shek was dealing with multiple external and internal threats to China and his position as Generalissimo. First off, his encirclement campaigns against the Reds were not going well at all. His men were not accustomed nor trained properly to face guerilla warfare. When they assaulted the Jiangxi Soviet they were entering strange territory and were greeted by the countryfolk as enemies. The Reds, in contrast, felt at home among the villages. For years, they had lived alongside the people and built friendships; forging connections was a key aspect of Communist strategy. Whenever Chiang Kai-Sheks forces came too close for comfort, the guerrillas seamlessly blended into the local population. They established their own Soviets, spread their ideology at will, and disappeared when soldiers approached. They were like a fluid army. Over time, the Chinese public became less concerned about the ongoing presence of the Red Army and more weary of the topic. Those not living in areas affected by Communist infiltration struggled to grasp the urgency of this endless conflict and began to question whether the costs outweighed the benefits. Very little news was reported on the situation, and what was published came primarily from government sources, portraying it as a series of victories for the Nationalists—this battle was a success for the Nationalists, that one ended in a glorious triumph; the KMT troops had the Reds on the run. A few days later, another dispatch would reiterate the same points, as if the earlier battles had never occurred. The front lines never seemed to shift significantly. Chiang Kai-Shek maintained his position as Generalissimo like any other politician, through alliances. One of his key friends was Hu Hanmin. The relationship between Chiang Kai-Shek and Hu Hanmin was never straightforward. Their shared history was marked by significant jealousy, and in February 1931, they faced another separation. During a KMT conference, Hu Hanmin challenged the provisional constitution proposed by Chiang Kai-Shek, arguing that it was prematurely defining various governmental functions. He claimed that Chiang Kai-Shek was consolidating too much power for himself. Chiang Kai-Shek countered that Hu Hanmins concerns were mainly about party authority. This situation echoed their earlier disputes in Canton, where they had debated theories under Dr Sun Yat-sen's influence, but now their conflicts held more weight and didn't end in mere discussion. Hu Hanmin, overwhelmed by his anger, resigned from the presidency of the Legislative Yuan, a significant position at the time. In response, a similarly agitated Chiang Kai-Shek placed him under house arrest, or as the Chinese more delicately termed it, “in soft detainment.” Initially, this fact was not disclosed; Hu Hanmin simply vanished. This was quite an extreme action for someone who advocated democratic processes, leading to a barrage of inquiries from curious Europeans directed at Chiang Kai-Shek. What had happened? Where was Hu? Why had the innocuous Lin Sen been appointed as president of the Legislative Yuan? For a considerable time, the Generalissimo remained silent, but eventually, he reluctantly stated that Hu was fine—indeed, quite fine; it was simply that his personal freedom was temporarily restricted. This was all for his own benefit and that of the KMT. Without this restriction, the misguided individual might attempt to flee to Shanghai, which would only incite dissenting factions and provoke disorder. He was perfectly fine. The incident was added to the ever-growing list of accusations made by Chiang Kai-Sheks opponents, who claimed he was becoming a dictator. They argued that he was squandering the nation's resources to maintain his army while pursuing insignificant Communists, who, if left alone, might actually become good citizens. Rumors circulated that he was nurturing a group of young bullies reminiscent of the Italian "Blue Shirts." Additionally, there were concerns about the shady Chen brothers. Furthermore, it was alleged that Chiang Kai-Shek was in close contact with gangster Tu Yueh-sen in Shanghai, profiting immensely from the opium trade through this connection. In fact, Chiang had recently declared that opium would now be a government monopoly, similar to that of the British in Hong Kong, as he needed the funds. And now, this latest scandal! Criticism of the Generalissimo was rampant, especially among students. April passed, and the uproar over Hu Hanmin faded into discontented whispers, as the People's Congress approached, providing an opportunity for open discussion about the provisional constitution. However, by May 5, people were preoccupied with other concerns. The South was once again causing unrest, led by Wang Jingwei, with Eugene Chen involved as well. It began with the typical manifesto or circular telegram, signed by Wang Jingwei and the Jiangxi generals, who "impeached" Chiang Kai-Shek for his wrongdoings. Another telegram soon followed from the warlord in Canton, accusing the Generalissimo of assuming dictatorial powers. In response, Chiang Kai-Shek convened an urgent meeting of KMT leaders, asserting that the allegations must be openly discussed and investigated. He should have been able to rely on the Party's support during such a crisis, but the situation was unusual due to Hu Hanmin's detention. Some members of his own faction seized the moment to betray him. Sun Fo and Wang Chunghui retreated to Shanghai before moving on to Canton. Shortly after, the Canton warlord declared an alliance between Jiangxi and Guangdong, united in their fight, this was the Chiang-Gui War. On May 25, the southerners issued an ultimatum: Chiang Kai-Shek had to resign within forty-eight hours or face the consequences. A few days later, they established a new national government in Canton. Chiang Kai-Shek announced his intention to suppress the rebels but did not rush into action. Instead, there were discussions—more discussions—in the neutral setting of Shanghai. Throughout June and most of July, these negotiations continued, with Chiang Kai-Shek hoping to prevent a conflict that the nation could ill afford. The southerners persisted with their demands, and their appeal to Japan for support would haunt them for a long time. Their determination ultimately prevailed, and on July 21, it was announced in Canton that a punitive expedition was underway. By mid-August, Bai Chongxi's army was advancing through Hunan on the old route to Nanking. Chiang Kai-Shek prepared for the confrontation, and the capital was on high alert. Meanwhile, in the North, the Mukden Incident broke out. In the South, the generals and their associates held back, anticipating that war could be declared at any moment. However, Chiang Kai-Shek and his advisers understood that he was even less equipped than Zhang Xueliang to initiate an offensive against a powerful foreign nation. There was the League of Nations, established presumably to address crises like this, as well as the Kellogg Pact. Chiang Kai-Shek decided to refer the matter to the League, though his chances of a favorable outcome were slim: America, which might have otherwise been involved, was preoccupied with its own economic depression, and Britain remained indifferent. The more impulsive factions in China believed this response was insufficient, and the dissidents in the South demanded a stronger approach. The students were the most incensed. On September 28, hundreds of students in Shanghai took matters into their own hands. They seized control of a train at the railway station and traveled to Nanking, where they joined forces with fellow students from the capital's university. Together, they marched—five thousand strong—toward the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. They pushed past the guards, stormed the Minister's office, forcibly dragged him outside, and assaulted him. After recovering from his injuries in the hospital, the Minister chose to resign. The students then initiated a sit-in strike, declaring they would remain in Nanking until they received tangible action rather than mere diplomatic efforts. Authorities were unsure how to respond to them, as more pressing issues demanded the government's attention. It was clear that the South and Nanking needed to resolve their differences, as public opinion strongly supported this. Despite the ungracious criticisms emanating from Canton, where Eugene Chen was vocally denouncing Chiang Kai-shek for his diplomatic failures, Nanking sought to negotiate. In October, Chiang Kai-Shek released Hu Hanmin from his mild detention, and he appeared none the worse for the unexpected break. Along with three others, he traveled to Shanghai for a peace conference with the southern leaders. Hu urged the southerners to be reasonable and to cease calls for Chiang Kai-Shek's resignation. Chiang Kai-Shek remarked, “Regardless of the right or wrong of the situation, if desired, all blame can be placed squarely on me.” However, this uplifting scene was short-lived. As the Canton faction continued to insist on Chiang's resignation, Hu abruptly changed his stance and escalated the demands. He suggested that not only should Chiang resign, but he should also be exiled from China entirely. The conference ended in chaos. Various proposals were discussed and quickly dismissed. The South remained resolute; Chiang had to go. The sit-in students, frustrated with just sitting idle, started to escalate their actions. Their numbers had been steadily increasing since the initial demonstration, with boys traveling to Nanking from distant places; by the end of November, there were twelve thousand of them. They marched again to the new government buildings, demanding that Chiang Kai-Shek come out to engage in a discussion. “War on Japan!” they shouted. Chiang Kai-Shek made them wait in the cold winter weather for a full twenty-four hours before he finally appeared. He reprimanded them harshly and ordered them to return to school, leading to a subdued dispersal of the crowd. On December 15th, Chiang Kai-Shek capitulated to public pressure and resigned. Chiang Kai-Shek yet again nonchalantly got up and left heading home into the mountains. This left an extremely uneasy Sun Fo in the presidential chair facing what looked like a full blown Japanese invasion. The Japanese kept reiterating they were merely defending their citizens after the Chinese had attacked the South Manchurian Railway…but yeah they were certainly conquering. Sun Fo desperately looked to any veteran figures for help, but Hu Hanmin fled to Hong Kong, Wang Jingwei, arguably the man responsible for forcing Chiang Kai-Shek yet again to step down was suddenly far too ill to do anything and retired to the Shanghai Hospital. Meanwhile, all of the bankers had lost interest in the Nanjing government since Chiang Kai-Shek had departed, the government literally lost its coffers. The government had no means to properly pay its armies. Now the entire time the government had been tossing offers to Chiang Kai-Shek to come back, but he bided his time. Meanwhile Eugene Chen demanded China break off diplomatic relations with Japan, was told no so he resigned, followed soon after by Sun Fo. Wang Jingwei was tossed into the presidency position, which he must have relished, however it was just then when Shanghai was invaded. Chiang Kai-Shek still held his honorary position as CEC over the special committee so he simply waited and watched. Yet no one could manage the military like the generalissimo nor open the coin purses to fund it. Thus Chiang Kai-Shek was brought back, but not really as Generalissimo, now he had to work collaboratively with others, such as Wang Jingwei.  In 1932, the January 28 Incident unfolded, basically the Japanese performed another false flag operation trying to legitimize an expedition into Shanghai. Japanese marines began to land and on January 28th they were attacking in full force. The 19th Route Army met the enemy in what became a month-long resistance against great odds. Chiang Kai-Shek was being labeled a coward for not doing more against the Japanese, but he was keeping in touch with the commanders of the 19th Rout Army by telegraph. He advised them to guard Liuho, a village just across the Yangtze, believing the Japanese would make other landings to cut them off there. General Tsai neglected to take the advice, and low and behold the Japanese made the landing forcing the 19th Route Army to pull out. The entire situation looked incredibly bad for China. Fingers were pointed at the inept Nanjing government. Yet Chiang Kai-Shek was much more focused on the encirclement campaigns against the Reds. The people angrily accused him of “making war on his own people instead of attending to the real threat, Japan”. To this Chiang Kai-Shek replied “It is useless for China to talk of resisting Japan. When it has not yet stamped out the enemy in its midst. If China ventures to fight the Japanese, the Communists will attack from the rear and chaos will quickly overtake the whole country.” The 19th Route Army were hailed as heroes, receiving a lot of recognition as a prominent anti-Japanese force. Despite Japan's attempts to reinforce its troops, Chiang Kai-shek's return to leadership saw further NRA forces dispatched to join the fight. Eventually, the conflict reached a resolution through diplomatic negotiations, resulting in the withdrawal of the 19th Route Army from Shanghai. With the Japanese threat averted for the time being Chiang Kai-Shek redirected his efforts against the Reds. On May 21, 1932, Chiang Kai-shek ordered the 19th Route Army to enter Fujian and forced the army to engage in a civil war against the Communists in Fujian. On December 6 of the same year, Jiang Guangnai took over as the chairman of Fujian Province, and Cai Tingkai was appointed as the director of the Fujian Pacification Office and commander of the 19th Route Army.  At this point the leadership of the 19th Route Army were not at all happy with Chiang Kai-Shek, who to them seemed to have done little to help face the Japanese. They were not friendly to the CCP by any means and were actively suppressing Communist organizations while fighting the Japanese. When they came to Fujian they continued to suppress communists and supported people's anti-Japanese patriotic movements. On August 18, 1932, the 61st Division of the 19th Route Army collectively executed 69 CCP members and suspected individuals outside the East Gate of Quanzhou, and they also carried out mass killings of government workers from the Soviet area during their offensive against it. Despite this the CCP and 19th Route Army did agree on one thing, the Japanese were a problem.  After November 22, 1933, as Japanese imperialism intensified its invasion of China, the people across the nation once again launched a wave of anti-Japanese salvation movements. On January 17 of the same year, the Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic and the Revolutionary Military Committee of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army issued a "Joint Anti-Japanese Declaration," proposing three conditions for cooperation with any armed forces to resist Japan: an immediate halt to attacks on the Soviet areas, immediate guarantees of the democratic rights of the people, and the immediate arming of the people to establish armed volunteer forces. However, Chiang Kai-shek's ruling group stubbornly persisted in its anti-Communist and anti-people policies, continuing to intensify attacks on the Red Army, and on May 31, he signed a peace agreement with the Japanese. Chiang Kai-Shek was met with another wave of opposition across the nation for appeasing the Japanese. The 19th Route Army basically concluded the Generalissimo was not going to help wage a war against their enemy. Thus in a rather insane fashion, the leadership of the 19th Route Army resolved to overthrow the Nanjing government so they could unite the anti-Japanese forces and push for a national resistance. At that time, Chen Mingshu, an early leader of the 19th Route Army who had gone abroad and had previously served as the vice president of the Executive Yuan of the National Government, returned to China in May 1933 and devoted all his efforts to opposing Chiang Kai-shek's Nanjing government. In Fuzhou, he secretly discussed three strategies with Jiang Guangnai, Cai Tingkai, and Deng Xizeng: the first was to unite with Guangdong and Guangxi to overthrow Chiang Kai-Shek, supporting Hu Hanmin to organize an independent government; the second was to unite with Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi of Guangxi, and Chen Jitang of Guangdong, seizing Guangdong; the last was to unite with the Red Army to resist Chiang Kai-Shek together.  As a result, neither the first nor the second strategies could be realized. Under Chiang Kai-shek's repeated orders to engage in civil war, the 78th Division and the 62nd Division of the 19th Route Army faced severe blows from the Red Army in Fujian between July and September 1933. Thus, the 19th Route Army found itself in a dire situation where not engaging in the "anti-Communist" actions would lead to its annihilation by Chiang Kai-shek, while engaging in "anti-Communist" actions would result in its destruction by the Red Army. In the context of rising national anti-Japanese sentiment, the upper leadership of the 19th Route Army had to swiftly make the choice to unite with the Communists to resist Chiang Kai-Shek and fight against Japan. On September 22, 1933, Chen Mingshu's main aide, Chen Gongpei, who had participated in the Nanchang Uprising and later left the CCP, secretly arrived at the command post of the 3rd Red Army Corps stationed at Wangtai, to express the political stance of the 19th Route Army to leaders of the Red Army, such as Peng Dehuai, Teng Daiyuan, and Yuan Guoping, regarding anti-Chiang resistance and cooperation with the Red Army. In October, Chen Gongpei accompanied Xu Minghong, the plenipotentiary representative of the 19th Route Army and secretary-general of its headquarters, to Ruijin. On the 26th, he signed the "Preliminary Agreement Against Japan and Against Chiang" with Pan Jianxing, a representative of the Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic and the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. The main contents included: both sides immediately cease military actions, temporarily define a military demarcation line, restore trade between both parties; the Fujian People's Revolutionary Government and the 19th Route Army agree to the existence and activities of all revolutionary organizations in Fujian, allow freedom of publication, speech, assembly, and strikes, and immediately release political prisoners, among other provisions. The Soviet Provisional Central Government also sent Pan Jianxing as a permanent representative in Fuzhou. Subsequently, Chen Mingshu, Li Jishen, Jiang Guangnai, Cai Tingkai, and others actively prepared to establish a new government and made military preparations against Chiang Kai-Shek. On November 20, 1933, Li Jishen, Jiang Guangnai, Cai Tingkai, and representatives from over 100 cities across the country, along with 100,000 people from various sectors in Fuzhou, convened the National People's Temporary Representative Assembly in Fuzhou. The assembly issued the "Declaration of People's Rights of the Chinese People's Temporary Representative Assembly" and decided to establish the People's Revolutionary Government of the Republic of China. They elected Li Jishen, Chen Mingshu, Chen Youren, Feng Yuxiang , Cai Tingkai, Jiang Guangnai, Huang Qixiang, Xu Qian, Fang Zhenwu, Li Zhangda, Sa Zhenbing, He Gonggan, and other 12 members to the government, with Li Jishen as the government chairman. On November 22, the People's Revolutionary Government was officially established, with the capital in Fuzhou. The People's Revolutionary Government Committee set up a Military Committee, an Economic Committee, and a Cultural Committee, chaired respectively by Li Jishen, Yu Xinqing, and Chen Mingshu; and established a Ministry of Finance, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a Supreme Court, and a Political Security Bureau, led respectively by Jiang Guangnai, Chen Youren, Xu Qian, and Li Zhangda. The People's Revolutionary Government successively issued: The People's Revolutionary Government's Internal Telegram. The People's Revolutionary Government's External Declaration.The People's Political Program - Eighteen Articles of the Minimum Program and other documents, openly announcing anti-Japanese and anti-Chiang, and proposing some domestic and foreign policies with certain progressive significance. The "Internal Telegram of the People's Revolutionary Government" announced the government's future mission: 1) to seek the liberation of the Chinese nation and establish a truly independent and free country; 2) to eliminate the counter-revolutionary Nanjing government and establish a political power of the productive people; 3) to realize the equal rights of all ethnic groups in the country; 4) to guarantee the absolute freedom and equality of all productive people; 5) to eliminate the influence of imperialism in China, overthrow the warlords, eradicate the remnants of the feudal system, develop the national economy, and liberate the working people. The "Declaration of the People's Revolutionary Government to Foreign Countries" sternly pointed out the Nanjing government's traitorous behavior and warned the powers not to cooperate with Chiang Kai-shek. The Declaration stated: "We believe that the policies of the pro-American and pro-League of Nations factions are based on dangerous principles... However, it must be recognized that the objective result of the pro-American and pro-League of Nations factions will put China under an international condominium system, which is no less harmful than Chiang Kai-shek's pro-Japanese policies... It is recognized that China's real power must be established on a national basis... We finally declare that overthrowing the Chiang regime is not only necessary for China's independence and national salvation, but also for the military and economic interests of the whole world... In order to enhance international security, we have to warn the powers not to make any loans to the Chiang Kai-shek government in Nanjing, whether it is money, goods, or weapons. We also declare that if any such loans are concluded in the future, the Chinese people and their revolutionary government will completely deny them." The People's Political Program - Eighteen Articles of the Minimum Program declared: "China is a semi-feudal society under the rule of imperialists. The greatest goal of the Chinese revolution is to eliminate the imperialist domination in China; at the same time, to sweep away all feudal forces and establish a government that fully represents the rights of the people..." The 18 articles of the minimum program are: (1) Abolish unequal treaties and renegotiate equal and mutually beneficial treaties with other countries; (2) Foreign-invested or foreign-managed enterprises and cultural undertakings that are harmful to the interests of the Chinese nation may be restricted or confiscated; (3) To sort out new and old foreign debts. All political loans that harm the country should be absolutely denied; others should be repaid conditionally; (4) Implementing foreign trade controls; (5) Strictly implement absolute tariff autonomy; (6) Open up the political system and deny all political rights to counter-revolutionaries who are dependent on imperialism and warlords; (7) All nationalities within China are equal, may freely unite for revolution, and recognize national self-determination; (8) Ensure the people's absolute freedom of body, residence, speech, assembly, association, strike, demonstration and publication; (9) Implement universal suffrage; (10) Abolish all excessive taxes and levies; (11) The principle of "everyone who tills the land owns the land" was established, and land was distributed according to the number of people. Forests, mines, and rivers were completely nationalized. (12) All important banking and transportation enterprises shall be under state control; (13) Use political power and state capital to support the scientific development of agricultural production; (14) Usury is strictly prohibited; (15) Unscrupulous merchants will be eliminated and the people's daily necessities will be sold under the state monopoly; (16) To formulate agricultural and industrial laws, improve the lives of farmers and workers, and ensure the development of agricultural and industrial organizations; (17) Promote universal education; (18) Implement conscription, arm the people, and assist them in their anti-imperialist and economic and political struggles. After the establishment of the People's Revolutionary Government, it caused a great stir domestically and internationally. However, due to Wang Ming's "leftist" closure policy, the local party organization in Fujian initially adopted a hostile strategy toward the People's Revolutionary Government. It wasn't until early December, after the Fuzhou Central Municipal Committee received a letter from the Central Committee dated October 30 addressing the Fuzhou Central Municipal Committee and all comrades in Fujian, that they began to adopt a proactive cooperative approach toward the People's Revolutionary Government and the 19th Route Army. After December 29, the Fuzhou Central Municipal Committee issued a declaration in the name of the "Far East Anti-Imperialist Non-War Anti-Fascist Alliance, Fuzhou Branch," publicly calling for the establishment of an anti-imperialist united front. The People's Revolutionary Government also fully reprinted this declaration in its official newspapers, the "People's Daily" and the "Guoguang Daily." The Fuzhou branch then mobilized people from all walks of life to establish the "Committee to Oppose Kuomintang Air Raids and Support the Soldiers of the 19th Route Army Against the Kuomintang," organizing personnel to visit the stationed troops of the 19th Route Army to comfort the soldiers. The People's Revolutionary Government also adopted a cooperative attitude toward the economic struggles of workers' organizations. On November 18, Chen Mingshu called for an emergency secret meeting of the 19th Route Army and other key figures at Heshui Rock in Gushan. The meeting took place at Longyuan Pavilion, and attendees included Li Jishen, Chen Mingshu, Cai Tingkai, Jiang Guangnai, Chen Youren, Huang Qixiang, Xu Qian, Li Zhangda, and more than ten other military commanders and the chief of staff of the 19th Route Army. The discussion, which lasted from morning until late at night, revolved around heated debates concerning the timing of the uprising. Cai Tingkai advocated for postponing the uprising by one to two months for several reasons; many generals in the 19th Route Army were still undecided or openly opposed to the rebellion, the troops had yet to be mobilized, defenses were unorganized, various forces had not surrendered, and traitors and spies were still active. Additionally, Guangdong and Guangxi were not providing support, and Chiang Kai-shek was already aware of their plans. Cai Tingkai argued for more time to accelerate preparations without drawing immediate attention from Chiang Kai-Shek. In contrast, Chen Mingshu and others believed this was the last opportunity for an uprising. They pointed out that Chiang Kai-shek's forces were concentrated in North China, and Jinpu and particularly in Jiangxi, where his main troops were engaged in the fifth encirclement campaign against the Soviet area. They estimated that only 20,000 to 30,000 troops could be redirected to Fujian. Overestimating the political instability of Chiang's regime, Chen Mingshu believed that once the 19th Route Army raised the flag of rebellion, support from other regions of China would follow. He also felt confident that one division of the 19th Route Army could resist two or three of Chiang's divisions and that with cooperation from the Red Army, even if Chiang Kai-Shek deployed ten divisions, they would prevail. Chen Mingshu concluded that regardless of the outcome, the effort would be heroic and they should proceed without hesitation. The meeting's opposing viewpoints led to intense discussions. Chen Mingshu, visibly passionate, declared that revolution required sacrifice and that delaying any longer would mean submission to Nanjing. Cai Tingkai, while originally advocating for a delay, conceded that the situation had reached a point of no return. He agreed to lead the 19th Route Army and fully back the new government. The meeting concluded with a decision to convene the National People's Provisional Congress in Fuzhou on November 20 to officially declare the uprising against Chiang Kai-Shek. Other topics discussed included replacing the blue sky, white sun party flag, military and financial logistics, and a declaration drafted by Chen Mingshu's advisors, Wang Lixi and Hu Qiuyuan. On November 20, 1933, the National People's Provisional Congress convened at the South Parade Ground in Fuzhou, with thousands of soldiers, students, merchants, and workers in attendance. A banner reading "China's National People's Provisional Congress" adorned the stage, and the leaders of the rebellion, including Cai Tingkai, Jiang Guangnai, and Li Jishen, were present, though Chen Mingshu was absent due to illness. Representatives from 25 provinces and various walks of life gathered for the event. Before the meeting, the 19th Route Army's newly formed air force performed stunts, to the applause of the crowd. At 9:40 AM, the meeting began with Huang Qixiang, who was elected chairman of the presidium, delivering an opening speech and reading the "Declaration of the People's Rights of the Provisional Chinese People's Congress." Several prominent figures spoke, and the meeting concluded with the adoption of proposals to establish the People's Revolutionary Government and a new national flag designed by Ouyang Yuqian. That evening, the presidium decided to form the People's Revolutionary Government of the Republic of China, abolishing the Nanjing government, declaring 1933 as the first year of the Republic, and establishing Fuzhou as the capital. Li Jishen was elected President, and several others, including Chen Mingshu, Jiang Guangnai, and Cai Tingkai, were appointed government members. However the Fujian Revolution failed to gain support from other forces within the KMT. The Guangxi clique was dissatisfied with the fact that the 19th Route Army reconciled with the CCP so they did not support it. Chen Jitang tossed his lot in with Chiang Kai-shek and did not support the Fujian Revolution either. At that time, the CCP was undergoing a power struggle. On December 5, the Central Committee of the CCP, headed by Wang Ming, issued a statement stating that the Fujian government was "non-people and still non-revolutionary and that anyone who wants to take a third way between revolution and counter-revolution will inevitably fail." . Thus, Chiang Kai-shek transferred eight divisions of the National Revolutionary Army into Fujian, and coordinated the attack with the air force and navy. The 19th Route Army quickly collapsed. Four out of the five armies defected before the battle even began. Most of them were disarmed by the Central Army that they had fought side by side with during the Shanghai Incident a year ago. On January 15, 1934, Chiang Kai-shek's forces captured Fuzhou. The People's Revolutionary Government and the headquarters of the 19th Route Army retreated to Zhangzhou and Quanzhou, respectively. By January 21, both Quanzhou and Zhangzhou had fallen, and the Fujian Rebellion had failed. The People's Revolutionary Government of the Republic of China collapsed within two months of its establishment. On the 21st, the remaining troops of the 19th Route Army switched over to supporting the central government, and the Fujian Revolution officially came to an end. Jiang Guangnai, Cai Tingkai, Chen Mingshu and Li Jishen fled to Hong Kong . The designation of the 19th Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army was cancelled, and the troops were dispersed and integrated. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Yes it was a tad bit of an anti climatic event in the grand scheme of things. Yet the provincial rebellion was notable because the people involved wanted to fight the Japanese and believed their government was not doing enough to challenge the external threat. The reality however was far more complicated, the Japanese were far too formidable, for now. 

The line struggle continues and does not go Mao's way. Plus, comments on the historiography.Further reading:Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949Stuart Schram, ed., Mao's Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927-December 1930Joseph Fewsmith, Forging Leninism in China: Mao and the Remaking of the Chinese Communist Party, 1927–1934Mao Zedong nianpu, 1893-1937 (毛泽东年谱)Chen Jian, Zhou Enlai: A LifeSome names from this episode:Liu Angong, special envoy sent by Party Center to the Fourth Red ArmyLin Biao, commander of the first column of the Fourth Red ArmyChen Yi, replaced Mao as secretary of the Front CommitteeZhou Enlai, head of the Organization Department of the Central CommitteeJiang Hua, secretary general of the political department of the Fourth Red ArmyEpisode artwork: photo of Jiang HuaSupport the show

Last time we spoke about the fourth encirclement campaign against the CCP. In 1931, the CCP survived brutal encirclement campaigns while the threat of Japanese invasion in Manchuria shifted focus in China. The new leadership, known as the 28 Bolsheviks, seized control after the downfall of Li Lisan, leading to infighting within the CCP. Despite initial successes, Mao Zedong opposed the aggressive military strategies favored by the Bolsheviks. As the Red Army expanded, Mao's calls for caution clashed with the Central Committee's ambitions, highlighting the struggle for power and differing strategies within the party during a time of upheaval. As the 28th Bolsheviks gained power, they stripped Mao Zedong of key positions, deeming his strategies outdated. The Red Army, while suffering losses, adapted tactics and launched further offensives. Political tensions rose, leading to purges and reorganization under more orthodox leadership. Ultimately, despite setbacks, the CCP's resilience and guerrilla tactics allowed them to persist against KMT forces.   #128 the fifth encirclement campaign Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. So the CCP had just survived 4 encirclement campaigns. Now each time an encirclement campaign was unleashed, it was done so during a very tumultuous time to say the least. The first three were done between 1930-1931 where the Central Plains War and multiple large scale rebellions were kicking off. It was also on the cusp of the re-unification of China, thus Chiang Kai-Shek arguably had bigger fish to fry. During the fourth encirclement campaign Chiang Kai-Shek was very much taking notice of the red menace in his interior, however a rather earth shattering moment occurred, the Japanese had invaded Manchuria. And yes, we will get to the 15 year war in good time no worries folks your boy has a lot of goodies coming. So one can understand Chiang Kai-Shek could not very well fully go after the Reds when the Japanese had invaded northeast China and there was absolutely no telling where or when they would stop. Well the fourth encirclement campaign did not provide the results the KMT needed, so obviously there was to be a fifth…and guess what, the Japanese began an invasion of North China that same year of 1933. Now if you really are itching to hear more about these events we will tackle in a few episodes, over at the Pacific War Channel on Youtube or on all major podcast platforms might I suggest the following: my Kanji Ishiwara series covering his entire involvement in these events and during WW2, my full documentary/podcast on the Japanese invasion of Manchuria and lastly my full podcast on the Japanese invasion of North China. I am a very busy boy over there as you can see.  In the late winter and early spring of 1933, the Kwantung Army had begun an invasion of North China. They specifically began by invading the province of Rehe, modern day Jehol. After this they attacked the Great Wall of China, a pretty insane story to be honest, and descended further into north china. Understandably Chiang Kai-Shek shifted his focus from the Red menace to the Japanese at his front door. Beginning in July, the KMT established a review team to examine why the encirclement campaigns were failing to provide real results and what improvements could be made. They also established division level training units to retrain the forces with the lessons learned against the Reds. There was also a lot of integration of foreign military advisers, particularly Germans who helped develop better tactics and strategies. The Germans immediately proposed a more deliberate strategy against the Soviets. The first step they argued was to establish an economic blockade. Raw materials and durable goods could not be allowed to enter or leave the Soviet areas. Foods like rice and salt were especially targeted, there was to be an absolute ban on them going in or out. The second step was to establish a series of fortifications, basically blockhouses made out of concrete to provide fire support to offensive operations in nearby cities. As NRA forces advanced into areas to clear them, the previous blockhouses would be abandoned as new ones were built. There also needed to be lines of operation, requiring road development in rear areas to expedite logistical needs to the front. Now none of this sounds new compared to what we spoke about in the previous campaigns, but what was the issue was that it was not being done by all units prior. The KMT was also going to introduce political reforms that complemented the new standardized military strategies. New slogans arose such as “Thirty Percent Military, Seventy Percent Political,”. They were going to revive the baojia system.  The Baojia system was an administrative structure that emerged during the Song Dynasty 960–1279 AD and was prevalent in various forms throughout subsequent dynasties. Its primary purpose was to enhance local governance, community responsibility, and social stability. The system was based on the grouping of households into units known as "bao" and "jia". Each bao typically consisted of ten households, while a jia consisted of ten baos, totaling about one hundred households. This hierarchical structure allowed for more manageable governance and oversight, facilitating communication and administration at the local level. Under the Baojia system, each household was assigned to a bao, and the head of the bao was responsible for maintaining order, collecting taxes, and ensuring the compliance of families with local laws and regulations. The heads of the baojia units worked in conjunction with local officials to enforce state policies and maintain social harmony. This system not only provided a means for effective local governance but also fostered a sense of community among families. Neighbors were encouraged to cooperate and support one another, creating a network of mutual responsibility. In addition to its administrative functions, the Baojia system played a significant role in maintaining social order. By organizing families into these small units, it facilitated surveillance and mutual accountability among community members. Residents were motivated to monitor each other's behavior, discouraging misconduct and promoting adherence to social norms. As a result, the system contributed to the overall stability and cohesion of society, particularly in rural areas where government presence was often limited. Now to get all of this done, the KMT increased the NRA forces deployed to Jiangxi to nearly 700,000 who were broken down into 4 area armies and 5 air corps. They deployed the Northern Route NRA Army consisting of 33 divisions in Jinzhi, Jishui, Nangeng and the Le'an front; and the Southern Route NRA Army, consisting of eleven Guangdong divisions and one independent regiment, established a blocking position along a line connecting the cities of Wuping, Anyuan, Shangyou and Ganxian. The Southern Route NRA army would move to the blocking positions north in coordination with the other NRA forces to try and squeeze the Reds. The Western Route NRA army consisting of 9 Hunanese divisions and 3 independent regiments were responsible for blocking the Reds from advancing west of the Gan River. The Fujian-Zhejiang-Jiangxi area army HQ was assigned 11 divisions and 4 security regiments to block any Reds from escaping through northeast Jiangxi. All of this encompassed the fifth encirclement campaign.  When the NRA was ready to commence the campaign, it was too late for the Reds to properly mount a counter encirclement campaign. The only thing the Reds had going for them was their recruitment efforts that saw them grow perhaps 100,000 strong. The Red Army even began touting a slogan “Million Man Army” to further recruit. By late October 1933, the Reds were certainly numerous, but this also meant they needed more supplies and equipment. With their Eastern Front Army now in Fujian, the Central Front Army and local populace should have been raising revenues and stockpiling supplies, especially rice and salt, but that is of course if they knew a fifth encirclement campaign was coming.  On September 25th, the NRA deployed 3 divisions south from Nanchang to attack Lichuan. Within 3 days of battle, the city fell, which greatly shocked the CCP. The Central Front Red Army fell back, waiting for the Eastern Front Red Army to rush back over from Fujian to meet the threat. By October 6th both front Red armies consolidated to perform a counterattack. They first attacked Xunkou, where they annihilated 3 NRA brigades. However the success was to be short lived. For the proceeding two months, the Red Army attacked multiple NRA blockhouses in Zixi, Huwan Bajiaoting, Xiaoshi, Daxiongguan and Yuangai Mountain. Yet they were unsuccessful at breaching the defensive line. The concrete block houses were acting as pillboxes allowing the NRA to concentrate fire using brand new German made machine guns. They also were utilizing new Krupp artillery pieces and German made aerial bombs against the Red army formations whenever they assaulted the blockhouse line. By November the KMT's attention was slightly diverted as Fujian had just seen a full blown rebellion, more about that in the next episode, but to summarize a bit. On November 30th, the KMT 19th route army in conjunction with the Fujian provincial government rebelled against the KMT and set up an independent government. As you might be guessing, they were also working with the CCP. Back in October they had formed a military alliance, better said cease fire. This little arrangement did not last long and there even emerged hostilities. During this chaos the revolutionary military council held an emergency meeting to figure out a course of action. Otto Braun advocated for a strong offensive to decisively defeat the KMT. He argued the golden age of guerrilla warfare in China was over and now the Red Army must conduct convention warfare against NRA positions. Thus Mao Zedong's “lure the enemy in deep” strategy was replaced by “defending against the enemy outside the Soviet”. In January of 1934 the second soviet congress was held where a series of resolutions were passed to focus the Red Army against the fifth encirclement campaign. The resolutions reiterated Otto Braun's offensive strategy and repeatedly attacked Mao Zedong's strategies. Building upon the strategy of defending against the enemy outside the Soviets, Otto Braun also proposed using “short, swift thrusts”. This would see the employment of repeated infantry assaults to overwhelm the NRA blockhouse lines. Otto Braun also advocated for continuing the mass recruitment efforts and brought up perhaps beginning a system of conscription to fill the ranks. After the Fujian rebellion situation simmered down, the NRA refocused their attention against the Reds. The NRA established a line of blockhouses going from Lichuan to Le'an and began clearing out the area south of Ruijin using 35 divisions. The NRA forces first targeted Guangchang, lying about halfway between Nanchang and Ruijin. The NRA's Eastern Front also began advancing west, totaling some 14 divisions. By March of 1934 the NRA Northern and Eastern Fronts linked up at Deshengguan where they began coordinated efforts towards Guangchang. In response to the NRA advances towards Guangchang, the Red Army built a series of fortifications and trenchworks to defend the area. On April 9th, the NRA began its attack on Guangchang, deploying the 3rd Route army's 10 divisions from Nanfeng with heavy artillery and aircraft support. The NRA forces advanced south along both sides of the Xu River leading towards Guangchang. The Northern Route NRA Army established new blockhouses on one side of the river before clearing the other side. It took the NRA forces roughly 2 weeks to advance down the riverway to Guangchang. By April 23rd, they breached the Red Army's defensive lines and seized control over some high ground surrounding the area. The Reds were forced to pull back into the city where they continued to build fortifications and trench lines. On the 27th the NRA began to artillery and aerially bomb the city, easily destroying the wooden fortifications and trench lines constructed by the Reds. On the 28th, the NRA stormed the city forcing the Reds to retreat south. The Reds had suffered 5093 casualties, roughly 20% of their defending force at Guangcheng whereas the NRA suffered 2000 casualties. It was very evident, the NRA were wielding superior equipment, notably the heavy artillery and aircrafts that the Red's had no real answer for.  After Guangchang the NRA advanced in all four directions. By May 1, NRA forces from the Western Front had taken control of both Shaxi and Longgang. Meanwhile, the Eastern Route NRA forces advanced and captured Jianning by May 16. By June, the CCP began feeling the strain from these assaults. A combination of the blockade and the baojia system was gradually eroded local support for the CCP. The attrition warfare strategy also took a toll on the quality of leadership and experience in the Red Army, as more inexperienced soldiers filled the ranks. Under pressure, many of these recruits deserted, further weakening the Red Army's effectiveness. Additionally, the shortage of supplies and food lowered morale and diminished public support for the Red Army's offensive. Even military and party publications gradually withdrew their support for the offensive, shifting focus to the promotion of guerrilla warfare to conserve resources. Recruitment efforts to replenish losses had little impact as the NRA's superior strategy continued to stifle the Soviet, reducing its control from seventeen counties to ten. In the summer of 1934, the Red Army began exploring new strategies, establishing a defensive perimeter stretching from Ninghua to Ningdu and Xingguo. By May, the Central Committee convened and concluded that the current offensive strategy was ineffective, likely necessitating the Red Army's evacuation from the Soviet area. They sought approval from the COMINTERN to change their approach, which was granted a few days later, stressing that the CCP's priority should be preserving the Red Army's combat strength. However, Braun and Bo Gu proposed a different method. Instead of immediately preparing to withdraw from the Soviet, they advocated for a final stand, urging everyone to give their all to defend the territory and secure victory. Alongside this shift in rhetoric, the Red Army maintained its defensive posture, constructing wooden blockhouses and trenches. Additionally, the CCP approved an expansion of guerrilla warfare across multiple fronts to defeat the NRA. In July, the NRA launched another offensive, focusing this time on the city of Shicheng, positioned between Ninghua and Ningdu as their entry point. The two forces clashed fiercely along this final line of defense for nearly a month. In early August, the Red Army mounted a strong counteroffensive during the battle of Gaohunao, inflicting over 4,000 casualties on the NRA. However, the Red Army also suffered heavy losses and was forced to retreat to the last defensive line just north of Shicheng. At Shicheng, the Red Army managed to hold the NRA in a stalemate. Ultimately, the NRA deployed twelve large howitzers, breaking through the defensive line in August. Shicheng eventually fell in October. The defense cost the Red Army 5,000 casualties, leaving it severely weakened and forcing its leaders to consider drastic actions. By this point, the Jiangxi Soviet had been reduced to a small area around Ruijin and Xingguo. With mounting casualties and the imminent threat of an NRA assault on Ruijin, the Red Army made a bold decision to retreat from Jiangxi on October 10, 1934, ending the Fifth Extermination Campaign. There has been a lot of thorough investigative work into why the CCP failed during the fifth encirclement campaign. This episode will be a bit different then previous ones as I thought it might be interesting to tell the overall story and then explain the finer details as to why it went down this way. Going back to when I discussed the NRA analyzing why their fourth encirclement campaign had failed. The analytics from that were incorporated into plans formed by the German advisers such as Hans von Seeckt and Alexander von Faulkenhausen. The Germans dramatically improved the NRA's performance across the board. This was seen in terms of training, the employment of more modern military tactics and of course the Germans sold the NRA some really good toys. Now again this was done in the vacuum of the Japanese invasion of Manchuria and Northern China. The real aim of the Germans' assistance was directed against the Japanese, but the advisers acknowledged how China must combat the external aggressor while not succumbing to internal threats. Ironically it was that exact situation that had toppled multiple Chinese dynasties in the past, take the Ming for example.  The NRA also employed effective counterinsurgent strategies that complimented their conventional warfare strategies. Beginning back in 1928 the KMT gradually re-instituted the baojia system. The NRA first cleared out Red areas and then established local administrators who were loyal to the KMT, protected by local militias. Through this the NRA was able to hold cleared areas and block any Red infiltration. Many residents in these areas actively began providing intel to the NRA. The Baojia system also supported the economic blockade, providing a system of sentries at the entrance of villages placing a lot of pressure on the Red Army and local populations. Chiang Kai-Shek's political reform “70% political, 30% military” also helped incorporate many disenfranchised Chinese, taking their support away from the Reds. The NRA also adopted a methodical, patient approach to tackle the Reds. The NRA quickly found out the Reds did not have the necessary weaponry to take out their concrete blockhouses, thus a war of attrition was on the table. Electing for a long campaign rather than a short one severely hurt the Reds who were incapable of conducting prolonged operations. The NRA also had learnt from the Red's usage of diversionary and feint attacks, not falling for them this time around. There was also obviously their NRA enormous advantage in numbers, they did toss nearly a million men at the Soviets. On the other side the Red Army suffered from numerous internal problems. The Red Army had undergone numerous measures to reform and professionalize the army, under the leadership of the 28 bolsheviks whom dominated the Central Committee. The mass recruitment efforts were directly primarily on uneducated peasants who required intensive training. Meanwhile the offensive strategy was decimating Red Army forces, many new recruits were tossed straight into the front lines without any training. The lack of training and political guidance, accompanied with low morale led to mass desertions. By the end of the fifth encirclement campaign the Red Army could not generate the proper forces to fill its demand and simply kept tossing more and more untrained peasants into the lines, degrading the combat effectiveness. The arrival of the Twenty-eight Bolsheviks in the CCP led to significant changes in the overall military strategy of the Red Army. Much of the new leadership's perspectives were shaped by Stalinist Soviet ideology, which markedly contrasted with the views of both Li Lisan and Mao Zedong, particularly in relation to Mao Zedong's approach, which was influenced by political considerations. These ideological differences also resulted in a substantial gap in military tactics. Nevertheless, both the Bolsheviks and Mao shared a similar stance on the expansion and training of the Red Army, emphasizing the vital importance of political training in building a robust party army. Ultimately, the CCP believed that the success of the Red Army hinged on the professionalization of the force, ensuring unity of command, a shared understanding of the mission, and an enhanced capacity to execute that mission. The primary advocate for the professionalization strategy of the Red Army was the Soviet Union. Stalin's interest in the Red Army was driven by both external and internal factors. The Soviet Union viewed an imminent threat from both Japan and Germany. Japan, a longstanding adversary of Russia, had expanded its presence in China, particularly following the 1932 occupation of Manchuria, which posed a direct risk to Russia's southern flank and national security. The Soviets believed that a large, professional Red Army, loyal to the Soviet Union, would serve as a formidable defense against Japanese aggression, and later, German threats. Additionally, the Soviets resumed discussions with the Nationalist government after years of silence to help ensure the security of their Chinese flank. For Stalin, the struggle for control over the CCP was intertwined with a broader power struggle within the Soviet Union against Trotsky. His internal conflicts with Trotsky solidified his communist ideology, resulting in a stringent approach within the COMINTERN and the new CCP. Through the COMINTERN and Bolsheviks, Stalin aimed to consolidate his power by eliminating Trotskyists in China. These internal Soviet political dynamics ultimately influenced the choice of Chinese political and military strategies, which had detrimental effects on the Red Army. At first glance, the policies of the Twenty-eight Bolsheviks closely resembled those of Li Lisan. Both groups viewed the urban proletariat as the central force in the communist revolution. They shared the conviction that merging the revolutionary spirit of the proletariat with modern strategies would empower the Red Army to achieve victory. Additionally, they felt that the conditions were ripe for revolution to spread into urban areas, emphasizing the necessity for the Red Army to engage in the cities to support students and workers involved in the movement. Wang Ming even remarked that although the 1930 assault on Changsha was a mistake, he did not see this failure as evidence against the soundness of the strategy of targeting urban centers. Upon closer inspection, the distinctions between the two factions were quite pronounced. Disputes between them arose early on; in June 1930, Li Lisan criticized Wang Ming, Bo Gu, and two other group members for opposing his plans. However, their differences ran deeper than mere political conflict. Ideologically, the Bolsheviks challenged Li Lisan's characterization of the bourgeoisie. In Wang Ming's The Two Lines, he asserted that all "capitalist bourgeois reformers were counterrevolutionary." This broadened the definition to encompass wealthy and middle-class peasants, who became targets during land reform efforts. Additionally, their strategies for confronting urban centers differed significantly. The factions also had contrasting views on the role of the Red Army: Li Lisan believed it should support urban proletariat uprisings to capture the cities, while the Bolsheviks regarded it as the primary force for seizing the metropolis. The distinctions between Mao Zedong and the 28 Bolsheviks were significant. Unlike Mao Zedong, the Bolshevik-led CCP rejected any form of alliance, insisting on the defeat of both the Nationalists and the Japanese. In their view, both groups were imperialists and posed equal threats to the Soviet Union and the communist movement. During the Mukden Incident, many nationalists and communists sought to forge a united front against Japanese aggression. However, the CCP opposed this, advocating for the overthrow of what they considered the agent of imperialism—the KMT.  The Bolsheviks also held a strong opposition to Maoist military strategies. They believed that an incorrect guerrilla warfare approach had infiltrated the Red Army, epitomized by the "lure the enemy in deep" tactic. Wang Ming likened this strategy to a form of "retreat" or "escape." The Bolsheviks advocated for the significant expansion and professionalization of the Red Army, aiming to move away from a peasant mentality. With a larger force, the Red Army could adopt an offensive stance, employing Soviet tactics to capture urban centers and extend Soviet influence. While guerrilla warfare was not entirely dismissed, it was relegated to local militias in rear and flank areas. In contrast, Mao had a more practical perspective on the capabilities of Red Army soldiers. He recognized that the Red Army lacked the technology necessary for conventional warfare. Moreover, Mao believed that achieving victory was not the sole priority; sustainability after victory and ensuring that the gains outweighed the losses were also crucial considerations. In hindsight, the positional warfare and offensive tactics advocated by Otto Braun and the students proved to be ineffective against the NRA. However, at the time, it is understandable why this approach was favored over Mao Zedongs strategy of "luring the enemy deep." This new offensive military strategy was predicated on the belief that the Red Army was strong and capable of launching attacks against the NRA. Although this assessment may have been overstated, the victories achieved during the Extermination Campaigns did boost the morale of the Red Army. Furthermore, their later success in resisting the Fourth Extermination Campaign reinforced the capabilities of the Communist military forces. This offensive strategy also marked a departure from the tactic of conceding territory, which had always posed challenges for the local population. The CCP garnered more support for its strategy by asserting that the Red Army was now strong enough to defend their territory and confront the enemy directly, allowing locals to remain in their homes. This simple shift fostered greater support for their cause. Conversely, Mao Zedong had a keen understanding of local conditions and recognized the detrimental effects of Bolshevik policies on land redistribution. The Bolshevik approach increased the burden on a larger portion of the local populace and threatened the fragile support necessary for waging a "people's war." Mao Zedong and his followers also aimed to delay and hinder large recruitment efforts, arguing that expansion would be an unnecessary distraction for locals who were already busy with agricultural work. Moreover, the Bolshevik offensive strategy was more conventional compared to Mao Zedongs concept of mobile warfare. At that time, Mao Zedongs approach of "luring the enemy deep" and other mobile warfare tactics were revolutionary in China and faced considerable criticism and skepticism. Even after the significant defeat of the Li Lisan line, the ability of the Bolsheviks and Otto Braun to revive a similar strategy two years later demonstrated the ongoing support for a more conventional military approach. In its new strategy, the Red Army blended traditional and modern tactics to engage the enemy. On the one hand, it maintained its reliance on established strengths in intelligence gathering and deception to outmaneuver the NRA. However, with the introduction of the Twenty-eight Bolsheviks and Otto Braun, the Red Army transitioned from a mobile defense approach to employing “short, swift thrusts” as offensive tactics against the NRA blockhouses during the Fifth Extermination Campaign. The Red Army also capitalized on advantages gained from previous campaigns. Improvements in signal intelligence, particularly through increased collection of wireless communications and the creation of training schools, enabled the Red Army to closely monitor NRA movements during the Fourth Extermination Campaign. Additionally, the Red Army integrated tactical intelligence into its operations, using plain-clothed soldiers and deploying double agents within KMT units to gather intelligence and disrupt them. The thoroughness of the Red Army's intelligence collection was a notable strength. For instance, an intelligence report on the KMT's Seventy-ninth NRA Division analyzed the background and motivations of its soldiers, revealing that many hailed from the same area as their commander, which fostered strong loyalties. This insight made the unit a less appealing target for subversion, given the traditional Confucian emphasis on hierarchical loyalty. The Red Army continued to execute feints and deceptive operations throughout its campaigns. The Eleventh Red Army effectively served as the main effort on two occasions. Moreover, the Red Army sent misleading communications to confuse NRA forces. For instance, while near Huangpi, NRA scouts “intercepted” a message claiming that the Red Army's main forces were positioned in Nanchang, prompting the division units to lower their guard in the city, only to be ambushed. The biggest change to Red Army tactics was the introduction of what Otto Braun described as “short, swift thrusts,” while Lin Biao defined this tactic as “sudden, rapid raids launched against the enemy who emerges from their blockhouses to advance the fortification line by a short distance, specifically between 2½ to 5 kilometers or even less. These thrusts aim to eliminate the main enemy forces before they can solidify their position. Although the tactics appeared straightforward, significant differences emerged in their application, particularly between Braun's theoretical approach and Lin Biao's practical execution. Firstly, the ultimate objectives of the tactics differed greatly. Braun's approach was part of a broader strategy aimed at safeguarding Soviet territory. Rather than seeking a decisive victory over the numerically superior NRA forces, the Red Army focused on defending territory and achieving small tactical victories that could translate into operational and strategic advantages. In contrast, Lin Biao viewed this tactic as a means to “annihilate the enemy or secure victory in the entire battle.”His emphasis was on defeating the enemy and achieving a decisive victory. Secondly, Braun promoted a more methodical strategy, where the Red Army would establish strong points with small clusters of fortifications. These areas provided defensive protection against artillery and air assaults, creating conditions conducive for the Red Army to launch rapid attacks on the NRA when they were away from their blockhouses. During an attack, Braun suggested that the Red Army should first fix the NRA in its rear, flank, or even front, followed by a strike aimed at weakening the enemy to disrupt its forces. Conversely, Lin Biao had a different perspective on the assault, prioritizing mobility and movement for the Red Army during these thrusts. The Red Army's primary defense relied on secrecy, moving quietly to occupy high ground while only establishing makeshift defensive structures for air and artillery protection. When the enemy entered their territory, the Red Army would encircle their forces, cutting off their retreat and swiftly attacking their flanks before they could construct fortifications. He advocated for the pursuit, believing it was the most effective way to convert a tactical victory into operational or strategic success. In contrast, Lin Biao rejected the idea of pursuit, reasoning that if his tactics were executed effectively, the enemy would have no escape route, making a pursuit unnecessary. These differing views on tactics underscored the challenges of translating theoretical military concepts into practical application. Otto Braun's offensive strategy stemmed from his experiences and understanding of Western military traditions. When applied to the Chinese battlefield, Lin Biao adapted his own experiences to formulate his interpretation of “short, swift thrusts,” which incorporated several of Mao's tactical principles. Given the circumstances of the Red Army, Lin Biao aimed for a quick, decisive victory, steering clear of prolonged battles with the NRA. He utilized intelligence and terrain—particularly through reconnaissance—to gain an advantage over the enemy. His strategy prioritized focusing on the enemy rather than merely securing territory, enabling his unit to engage in battle on favorable ground. While the localization of “short, swift thrusts” did not provide the Red Army with the decisive edge needed to overcome the NRA, it illustrated how the Red Army continued to adapt concepts to local conditions to achieve success in combat. Between 1932 and 1934, the Red Army reached its maximum size and level of professionalism, only to be outmatched by a stronger NRA force. With the rise of the Twenty-eight Bolsheviks, the Red Army adopted a more aggressive, offensive strategy. Although this approach would later be deemed a mistake, it initiated a series of reforms that enhanced the Red Army's professionalism. During this period, the Red Army nearly doubled its strength to six army corps. To promote uniformity and centralize command, all Red Army units, including local militia groups, were standardized. Additionally, the Red Army founded the Red Academy and the Red Army War College, alongside specialized schools to train and develop its officers. These reforms contributed to the Red Army's success in the Fourth Extermination Campaign against the NRA and facilitated the expansion of Soviet influence into four provinces. However, following their defeat, the NRA adapted and developed a more effective strategy against the Red Army. Lacking the necessary heavy weapons and supplies, the Red Army could not prevent the systematic encirclement of the Jiangxi Soviet during the Fifth Extermination Campaign. In order to survive the Red Army would have to embark on arguably one of the most important historic moments of the CCP's history, it was a notably very long march. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The 28 Bolsheviks wrestled control over the CCP and this had rather dramatic consequences. For one, Mao Zedong's strategies were thrown to the wind as full on offensive strategies took the center stage. In the face of the most intense NRA encirclement campaign as of yet, the CCP crumbled and would now have to march to away trying to survive.

Last time we spoke about the first encirclement campaign against the CCP. The Jiangxi Soviet expanded despite opposition, but urban uprisings struggled, with labor union support declining. Li Lisan pushed for urban revolts, while Mao Zedong favored rural expansion. In 1930, failed attacks on Nanchang and Changsha deepened the divide between their strategies. Mao's forces later captured Ji'an, but tensions led to purges, including the Futian Incident. Meanwhile, the Nationalist Army launched an encirclement campaign. Mao's strategy of “luring the enemy in deep” ultimately positioned the CCP for survival and future success. The NRA exploited internal conflict among the Reds, launching attacks on Donggu. Miscommunication led to friendly fire between NRA divisions. Despite capturing towns, overextension weakened the NRA, allowing the Red Army to counterattack. Through guerrilla tactics and local support, the Reds encircled and decimated multiple NRA divisions, capturing thousands of prisoners and weapons. Mao Zedong's strategies proved effective, bolstering Red Army morale and influence. By the end of the third campaign, the Jiangxi Soviet had expanded significantly.   #127 The fourth encirclement campaign  Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. The CCP had just survived 3 brutal encirclement campaigns in 1931, collectively known as the First Encirclement Campaign. The Reds were quite lucky in 1931, for China had major problems requiring Chiang Kai-Sheks attention. Understandably one of those major problems was a full blown Japanese invasion of Manchuria, that rest assured we will tackle in depth in future episodes, but for coherency sake I thought it best to try and get through all the other events before we start talking about the beginning of the 15 year war. The Japanese invasion immediately began influencing the KMT-CCP conflict. The Japanese invasion directly threatened Soviet interests and Moscow looked at the CCP as a potential bulwark against the Japanese. From 1930-1931, the CCP's Red Army was successful in defending their territory against the NRA extermination campaigns, however they still suffered from a lack of discipline, supplies and professionalism. New leadership came from the new Central Committee, now led by the 28 Bolsheviks and a new comintern representative, Otto Braun. The Red Army began adopting a series of initiatives in 1932 to improve. All Red Army units were standardized to establish better command and control. Political indoctrination and military training also became standardized with waves upon waves of manuals distributed to the forces. The Red Army expanded the Red Academy by establishing the Red Army War College for mid-grade and senior officers. Branch schools and speciality schools to increase competency and training. Political mobilization remained cornerstone to the Red Army. Recruitment of new troops also began to see a renewed emphasis on urban proletariats. A large change to the operations for the Red Army was the adoption of Soviet offensive tactics to seek out decisive battles. CCP leaders were under the misbelief that revolutionary fervor would simply have the Red Army victory. What they lacked initially was professionalism, alongside good weaponry and equipment. Couple this with the NRA's adoption of more and more effective counterinsurgency tactics, the Red Army really began to suffer terrible casualties. Now as the Red Army defeated the NRA in the third extermination campaign of 1931 not to be mistaken for the large third extermination campaign later, another intraparty power struggle was brewing in the CCP. After the fall of Li Lisan, a group of students returning from studies in the USSR began a systematic operation to gain control over the CCP. This group became known as the 28 Bolsheviks. 20 or some of them returned to China with the new Comintern adviser, Pavel Mif in 1931. Two key members of the group, Qin Bangxian known colloquially as Bo Gu, and Chen Shaoyu as Wang Ming would seize key positions at the top brass of the CCP. Many of these students attended Moscow's Sun Yat-Sen University, where they became acquainted with Mif, the head rector of said university. This university was a breeding ground for ultra-orthodox Stalinist communist doctrine. It goes without saying the students were indoctrinated with a very Moscow perspective. Mif regarded them as a very well disciplined force and used them to purge out divergent groups within the university. During the third Plenum in September of 1930, Mif attempted to use the forum to denounce Li Lisans plan, but had failed to convince the majority of the Central Committee. After Li Lisan was condemned and recalled to Moscow, Mif saw a major opportunity. At the fourth Plenum in January of 1931, Li Lisan and 11 of his supported were ousted from the Central Committee, with their best positions seized by Moscow aligned CCP members. The next year, the 28 Bolsheviks unleashed a brutal intraparty war with other factions. By late September the Bolsheviks effectively destroyed most of the opposition and incorporated the surviving members into a the Central Committee loyal to Moscow. Bo Gu was appointed head of the Central Committee from Wang Ming who returned to Moscow. Once the 28 Bolsheviks were in control of the CCP at Shanghai, they then set their eyes upon Mao Zedong and the Red Army Soviet areas. During the first All-China Soviet Congress of November 1931, they launched their first attack. Mao Zedong received prior word of their intentions from loyal followers in Shanghai and prepared to face them. Before the Central Committee arrived at Ruijin, Mao had just emerged victorious from the encirclement campaigns, had suppressed dissension amongst his ranks and established a delegation of loyalists within the Soviet Congress. The Bolsheviks failed to gain a majority within the Congress, taking only 2 seats in the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet. Meanwhile Zhu De was appointed Commissar of War and other Mao loyalists took high ranking positions. To try to break Mao Zedongs monopolistic control over the Red Army, the Bolsehviks employed Zhou Enlai.  In early 1932, the CCP urged the Red Army to expand Soviet territory as its forces grew. Successful defenses against encirclement Campaigns brought many NRA soldiers into the Red Army, some willingly, others by force. A key boost came on December 14, 1931, when the NRA's Twenty-sixth Route Army rebelled and joined, forming the Fifth Red Army Corps. With this and other recruits, the First Front Red Army grew to about 70,000, requiring more territory to sustain itself and the revolution. On January 9th of 1932, the CCP Central Committee issued a resolution outlining a new strategy for the party and the Red Army. The resolution assessed the current situation in China, that of a major depression, the effects of the Mukden Incident and the string of CCP successes against the encirclement campaigns. The resolution reasserted the renewed commitment to recruit urban proletariats for the revolution and “expand the territory, link up the separated Soviet areas to form an integrated Soviet area, and take advantage of the present favorable political and military conditions to seize one or two important central cities so as to win an initial victory of the revolution in one or more provinces.” The Red Army would conduct a series of offensive to expand their Soviets and connect them starting in early 1932. They would target southern Jiangxi, such places as Ganzhou, Jiujiang, Nanchang and also Fujian's Fuzhou, Xiamen and Zhangzhou. The resolution also pushed for a “positive and offensive line, rather than the luring of the enemy into the deep strategy, as it was no longer viable”. Furthermore the resolution directly attacked Mao Zedong's strategy as “being right opportunism that underestimated the situation and maintained a pessimistic attitude, and all party and army members should actively guard against its incorrect mindset”. This cemented the divide between the Bolshevik groups adoption of offensive strategy vs Mao Zedong's defensive lure the enemy in deep strategy. The next operation would be against Ganzhou in Jiangxi. The city linked the Hunan-Jiangxi border areas with the Fujian-Jiangxi border areas and provided a nice launching point against Ji'an in the north. During another meeting in 1932 at Ruijin, Mao Zedong expressed his reservations about the operation, stating the Red Army did not have the necessary weapons or supplies to seize a major city. Zhu De backed him up, but the Central Military Committee vetoed them and continued planning the Ganzhou operation. On January 10th orders were handed out for the 1st, 3rd and 5th Red Army corps, along with the Jiangxi Soviet military regional forces to conduct the operation by February. On the other side, the KMT were well prepared to meet an attack against Ganzhou, they were also most likely tipped off.  On February 3rd of 1932 the Red Army arrived at Ganzhou quickly encircling the city. The next day the 5th Red Army Corps, roughly 20,000 men were the first to attack the city. They struck the East Gate, breaching the defenses slightly before being repelled. On the 17th and 23rd the Red Army forces conducted two major assaults, expanding the attacks to the West and South gates, but failed to gain a foothold. During the siege, two NRA brigades reinforced the Ganzhou garrison. Then on March 4th, the Red Army conducted a fourth major attack and was likewise repelled. Three days later the Red army retired to Jiangkou to reorganize after they had suffered 3000 casualties. Despite this the CCP leadership remained undeterred, believing the offensive strategy was still optimal. When Japan began rooting itself permanently in Manchuria, the CCP saw this as the perfect condition for a real revolution to take place. At a meeting on March 18th, Mao Zedong again argued his strategy fit the current conditions much more and that the offensive strategy was too ambiguous. Yet his arguments fell on deaf ears and the CCP leadership had the Red Army reorganized into two route armies. The west route army consisted of the 3rd army corps and was made responsible for expanding the Soviet areas west of the Gan River in Hunan-Jiangxi with a focus built around Zhuchuan, Taihe and Wan'an. The Central Route army consisted of the 1st and 5th Red army corps and would take Mao Zedong's recommendations to perform expansion operations in south Fujian with Xiamen being the final target. On March 26th, the Central route red army occupied Changtin under Mao Zedongs guidance. There they conducted political mobilization of the local populace. Yet seeing little military action taking place, Zhou Enlai pushed Mao Zedong to stop the political mobilization and instead engage the enemy in the direction of Zhangzhou. Thus the Reds headed south and attacked the 49th NRA division. On April 10th the Reds managed to seize Longyan where they annihilated a single brigade of the 49th NRA division. The 5th NRA corps attempted to reinforce the 49th NRA division, but lost two brigades in the process. The Reds then continued marching south and on April 20th seized Zhangzhou where they defeated the 49th NRA division. At Zhangzhou they seized 1675 prisoners, 2000 rifles, some artillery pieces, 13,00 rounds of ammunition, two aircraft and over a million yuan. Alongside that came a lot of provisions, salt, oil and other goods needed to keep their men moving. After the success Mao Zedong telegrammed Zhou Enlai, requesting the Red army move back to Jiangxi with their booty to improve operations in the soviet area. It was Mao Zedong's belief the Reds had made great gains at Zhangzhou but could not hold onto the area. Instead he wanted to expand operations in Fujian using smaller local militia and guerilla groups. The CCP yet again overruled Mao Zedong and on June 5th ordered him to keep up the offensive, now turning towards Guangdong military forces currently occupying southern Jiangxi.  Once that was completed they were to advance north up the Gan River Valley and attack Ganzhou, Zhangshu, Ji'an and Nanchang so as to foster a revolution in Jiangxi. The Red army then reorganized its forces placing the 1st, 3rd and 5th red army corps under the First Front Red Army who advanced into Guangdong. From late june into early July the Reds seized Shuikou, Nanxiong and defeated 15 Guangdong based NRA brigades and expanded the Soviet into the province. Yet even with the string of offensive victories, Mao Zedong still remained vocally in opposition towards the strategy, constantly submitting his recommendation to adjust their footing. On July 25th, Mao Zedong and Zhu De sent a joint communique to the CCP leadership requesting a change of strategy. They argued instead of immediately attacking Ji'an and Zhangshu they could perform clearing operation on the eastern part of the valley, focusing on Yihaung and Le'an. The CCP central committee was initially against the proposals, however Zhou Enlai intervened and gave his support to them. In August the 1st front red army held a conference and confirmed they would attack Yihaung and Le'an. They took Le'an shortly after, defeating the 27th NRA division. With that victory they gained 5000 prisoners, 4000 rifles, 20 machine guns, 20 artillery pieces and 3 wireless communication sets. Afterwards the Reds contemplated attacking Ji'an, however after consideration Mao Zedong argued on September 25th, the NRA presence at Ji'an was too strong. He instead recommended they conduct political mobilization operations around the Le'an Yihuang area. By this point the CCP Central Committee was really pissed off with what they considered insubordination from Mao Zedong. By this time the 28th Bolsheviks had gained enough power and began striping Mao Zedong of key positions with the Red Army. First he was removed from the Military Committee of the Central Bureau of the Soviet Areas. Have I mentioned how much communists love making endless committees? Later in October of 1933 an emergency conference was held at Ningdu to plan future operations on the eve of an impending KMT campaign. Participants included Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Chen yi, Liu Bocheng and Peng Dehuai who all agreed they should take up offensive actions outside the Soviet. Alongside this the party condemned Mao Zedongs strategy called it inadequate and outdated. Zhou Enlai then argued for “expanding Soviet territory swiftly, engaging the enemy on KMT territory, bringing Jiangxi and its neighboring Soviet areas together by force, taking key cities in the Gan valley, including Nanchang, Ji'an, Ganzhou, and Pingxiang, so as to achieve preliminary successes in one or more provinces.” After the Ningdu conference, the Red Army continued with the offensive operation, now attacking Jianning, Lichuan and Taining in October. By November the 1st front army took the Jiangxi county seats of Zixi and Jinxi. This helped the CCP expand the Soviet in the eastern Gan valley, but it also placed them on a vulnerable footing, just in time for the KMT's 4th major encirclement campaign. During the CCP's expansion activities, the KMT had been performing a communist suppression campaign in Shanghai, driving out the Bolsheviks and other CCP members towards the Jiangxi Soviet by late 1932. Their arrival to the Jiangxi Soviet added further tension to the Red Army who were facing a new encirclement campaign. The presence of high ranking Central Committee members also changed their politics. The Mao Zedong adapted Marxist-Leninist theory was replaced by more orthodox and Moscow leaning theory. Many of 28 Bolsheviks moved to many Soviets sparking a new phase.  Before the start of the 4th major encirclement campaign, the Red Army from the Jiangxi Soviet conducted expansion operations into Fujian and Guangdong. Other Red army units performed similar operations in Hunan, Hubei and Sichuan. All of this red activity was enough to push Chiang Kai-Shek to refocus his military operations against them. On April 9th, 1932, Chiang Kai-Shek created the Bandit Suppression Headquarters in Wuhan with He Yingqin as its commander. Beginning in June 1932 He Yingqin had a force of 500,000 soldiers who unleashed a brutal encirclement and suppression campaign against the Hubei-Henan-Anhui and western Hubei-Hunan Soviet areas. By November of 1932, both soviets collapsed. After this Chiang Kai-Shek ordered He Yingqin to direct his efforts against the Jiangxi Soviet. In December Chiang Kai-Shek shifted over 400,000 troops and 30 divisions to the Central Soviet Operation. He even personally moved down to Nanchang to supervise the operation. The main forces consisted of 3 columns, roughly 150,000 troops in 12 divisions led by Chen Cheng. The KMT plan was to build a series of blockhouses as a means of economically blockading the Soviet. Around 240,000 troops were allocated for the blockade, in addition to the main force which brought the entire figure to 400,000 men. Each flank of the blockade had 70,000 troops, roughly 6 divisions who would conduct blocking operations in the Jiangxi-Guangdong border area and the Fujian-Jiangxi border area. Around 100,000 would be used to conduct anti-guerilla operations in the northwest and northeast of Jiangxi as well as in southeast Hunan and southwest Jiangxi. Was the blockade was set, the NRA would deploy 3 columns along separate routes converging upon the Red Army's rear for a concentrated attack. Over on the other side, the Red Army based near Lichuan had roughly 70,000 men from the 1st, 3rd and 5th Red army corps and the 11th,12th, 21st and 22nd Red Armies. The 4th encirclement campaign coincided with the Red Army's urban offensives. By December of 1932 the Reds had targeted Nancheng. The Central Committee issued the attack orders but due to the large NRA reinforcement efforts had to order the Red Army to withdraw from the outskirts of Nancheng. The next potential target was Nanfeng. The Central Committee again pushed for urban offensive as Nanfeng was attacked beginning in February of 1933. On February 7th the Red Army besieged the city. The NRA quickly dispatched the Central Route Army to reinforce the city and conduct a counterattack. Seeing the large concentration of NRA in the area, on February 13th Zhou Enlai ordered the forces to pull out and head over to Luokou.  The Red Army set up a diversion to cover their withdrawal. Using similar tactics employed during the third encirclement campaign, the 11th Red Army pretended to be the main force and suddenly attacked Lichuan. The NRA took the bait immediately sending 3 columns to Lichuan. While marching the 1st NRA column's 52nd and 59th NRA division became separated. On February 25th the two divisions moved west towards Huangpi along two routes separated by a mountain ridge. As they did so, their distance from the NRA 2nd and 3rd columns increased making mutual support efforts impossible. On the 27th the 1st and 3rd Red Army corps and 21st Red army unleashed a surprise attack against the 52nd NRA division. The next day the 5th Red army corps and 22nd red army attack the 59th NRA division around Huangpi. The division was annihilated with its commander captured. After the victory the Red Army pulled back to Luokou.  After the loss the NRA reorganized its force into 2 columns and changed strategy. Now instead of heading in 3 wide columns they would concentrate as 2 down the center of the Soviet. On March 16th, the two NRA columns began their advance as the Reds deployed their 11th army to perform more deception operations. The 11th Red army made a feint towards Guangchang, attracting the NRA front column. This action separated the two columns by 50 kms and isolated the 11th NRA division near Caotaigang. On March the 20th the 1st front red army attacked the 11th NRA division near Xuzhuang decimating them and severely defeating the 9th NRA division. For the remainder of the 4th encirclement campaign there were no other major battles. During March of 1933 the Reds conducted political operations near Le'an until NRA forces moved there to secure the city.  In April the NRA began to withdraw from the Jiangxi Soviet area, effectively ending their encirclement campaign. The NRA had suffered considerable losses for their efforts. They had lost the equivalent of 3 divisions; over 10,000 prisoners were taken. The Reds and seized 10,000 rifles, 300 German made machine guns and 40 artillery pieces. Another consequence of the failed encirclement campaign was the validation of the Bolshevik led offensive strategy. The CCP then adopted a series of reform measures hoping the Red Army could seize large cities. First the CCP attempted to expand the Red Army's overall strength by launching a large recruitment drive. In addition they incorporated all the local militias in the main Red Army. To fund the expansion the CCP adopted a large land distribution policy to generate revenue. Under the guise of performing a land investigation the CCP distributed 80% of the land within the soviet area. During the distribution the CCP attempted to raise nearly one million yuan. During the summer of 1933 the CCP also focused on suppressing counterrevolutionaries. One of the 28 Bolsheviks greatest critics was Luo Ming, the secretary of the Fujian-Guangdong-Jiangxi soviet committee. A large amount of recruitment and taxation had hurt the morale of the local people in the Soviet. When the Central Committee wanted troops there to deploy for action Luo Ming argued they needed to stay for local defense and that they should scale back offensive operations. However from the perspective of the 28 Bolsheviks it looked very similar to Mao Zedongs lure the enemy in deep strategy. At this point there were still many loyal to Mao Zedong and his strategy, so the Bolsheviks saw an opportunity to hurt him through punishing Luo Ming. They created a new pejorative term “Luo Min Line” to describe any non-offensive strategy and began a purge of the Fujian-Guangdong-Jiangxi Soviets leadership. The “Luo Ming line” became a new slogan to describe any in the CCP opposing the offensive strategy. During the summer of 1933, the Central Committee, emboldened by surviving the fourth encirclement campaign, continued to press on with their offensive strategy. With the Bolshviks and Otto Braun, the Jiangxi Soviet increased the central oversight over the Red Army and gradually seized direct control over military matters. On May 8th, the CCP passed a resolution separating the Central Military council and the Red Army leadership. Zhu De and Zhou Enlai remained in charge of the Red Army, but Bo Gu gained greater control over the military council and now controlled the Red Army's strategy and the employment of its military. Also Otto Braun would play a much larger role in military strategy, leveraging his experience at the Frunze Academy to push for offensive action.  The Red Army also reorganized its units to facilitate the execution of the new offensive strategies. In June the CCP divided the 1st front red army into the eastern front red army and central red army. Bo Gu and Braun believed that the Red Army had grown strong enough, both in firepower and manpower, to no longer require coordinated, mutually supportive operations. Instead, they felt the Red Army units could carry out independent operations in different regions. The Eastern Front Red Army, composed of the Third Red Army Corps, was stationed in western Fujian, while the Central Red Army, formed from the First Red Army Corps, remained in the Central Soviet area. Under the guidance of the new Central Military Committee, the Eastern Front Red Army launched expansion efforts into Fujian after the NRA vacated the region. Peng Dehuai's forces embarked on a three-month campaign in Fujian, expanding Soviet-controlled territory, securing supplies—especially salt—and raising funds, addressing key shortages for both the Red Army and the CCP. Before the Fifth Extermination Campaign, the Central Soviet controlled an impressive 60,000 square kilometers, spanning parts of three provinces. However, as they focused on territorial expansion, the Red Army neglected to monitor the KMT, which was preparing for another encirclement campaign. Now we have primarily focused on one of the major Soviets implicated in the fourth encirclement campaign. In reality the fourth encirclement campaign had been a large scale operation against three major soviets: the Hunan-Western Hubei Soviet also referred to as the Honghu Soviet; the Hubei-Henan-Anhui or Eyuwan Soviet and the Jiangxi Soviet. You would be led to believe and rightfully so because many lets just say, CCP aligned sources like to highlight the Jiangxi Soviet story, that the communists had kind of duped the NRA and stolen their victory from them. It was much more of a mixed bag overall. The campaign against the Hunan–Western Hubei Soviet saw the NRA successfully defeat the local Red Army forces, overrunning their main base in southern Hubei and Hunan. The majority of the fighting occurred around Jingzhou and overall was seen as a loss for the CCP. For the campaign against the Eyuwan Soviet, drought, famine and epidemics severely hurt the CCP forces in 1932. Between July and September, Chiang Kai-Shek had allocated more than 300,000 troops for the operation. The CCP suffered tremendously because of the numerical superiority of the NRA. The NRA General Xia Douyin unleashed a scorched earth campaign, killing countless, burning many villages and destroying to seizing crops. Historians like Chen Yaohuang argue the fourth Red Army who participated in this area were defeated largely because they had adopted conventional warfare tactics. The peasantry were very hostile to the NRA, forcing their forces to depend on unreliable local elites for provisions, creating a very vulnerable supply line. However the CCP failed to exploit this weakness by not committing guerilla warfare. Despite the NRA victory, it was a rather incomplete one and they ended their campaign prematurely celebrating. The fourth red army had successfully retreated into the border region between Shaanxi and Sichuan leaving behind a small force to conduct guerilla warfare. The remaining Communist forces in the Eyuwan Soviet, led by Gao Jingting and Xu Haidong, capitalized on the early Nationalist withdrawal to rebuild a guerrilla movement. They hid in the mountains, survived by foraging, and organized poor peasants to seize grain from landlords and public granaries. The 25th Red Army, under their leadership, managed to maintain a Communist presence in the region for several more years. After all was said and done, as was the case with the previous encirclement campaigns, reports from field commanders were far too optimistic. Many reported to Chiang Kai-Shek exaggerated numbers of casualties inflicted, prisoners taken and areas secured. In reality what the communists were doing was simply moving around to give off the impression of major defeats. Sure the Reds were taken enormous losses, but they were constantly recruiting and spreading. They could probably sustain these yearly encirclement campaigns if the NRA did not do something much more bold…like actually encircle the Reds. As great as the Reds were becoming at outwitting their opponent, their luck would eventually run out. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The Reds had survived 4 large encirclement campaigns. The 28 Bolsheviks and their moscow allies were greatly emboldened thinking it was their time to go on the offensive and usher in a true revolution. However those like Mao Zedong knew the dire reality of the situation and were bracing themselves for the coming storm.

Last time we spoke about the establishment of the Jiangxi Soviet. After the CCP's failed uprisings, Mao Zedong and Zhu De fled to rural China, determined to build a strong, agrarian-based Red Army. Mao narrowly escaped capture and regrouped with fewer than 1,000 soldiers, facing morale and loyalty issues. To rebuild, he implemented reforms, creating political structures within the army to strengthen revolutionary spirit and establish troop soviets for democratic centralism. Seeking refuge, Mao negotiated with local bandit leaders Yuan Weicai and Wang Zuo to secure Jinggangshan, a defensible mountain area. The Red Army began guerrilla operations, seizing nearby villages and towns, rapidly expanding territory. Over time, despite facing encirclement campaigns by Nationalist forces, Mao's Red Army persevered, using flexible tactics, alliances, and propaganda. This period laid the groundwork for the growth of the Jiangxi Soviet, where the Red Army united diverse groups and adapted communist policies to local conditions, eventually strengthening their movement for future battles.   #126 The first Encirclement Campaign Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. We last left off with the establishment of the Jiangxi Soviet and its expansion into Fujian province. In spite of the continuous attacks by provincial and NRA forces, the communist movement was flourishing in the countryside. After the multiple failed uprisings in 1927, support for urban insurrection as the cornerstone of the revolution was fragmented. Likewise the KMT unleashed anti-communist campaigns inside major cities, cracking down on communist activities, driving them underground. The urban labor unions were also not very receptive to communist propaganda. A lack of enthusiasm for communism was evident in the early party demographics. In 1928 peasants made up ¾'s of the CCP membership while Shanghai labor union members dropped from 3000 to 700 by 1930. In the face of these statistics, the CCP continued to look at the urban centers as the key to the communist revolution. It was an issue of philosophy. The Central Committee maintained an unwavering belief that the proletariat should carry out urban uprisings as a means of inciting the grand revolution. As the head of the CCP propaganda department, Li Lisan was one of the largest proponents for the urban insurrection model. Li Lisan had returned to China from France in 1928 and argued the proletariat was still very much the center of the movement and that “the peasantry is petty bourgeois and cannot have correct ideas regarding socialism. Only a proletarian mentality can lead us onto the correct revolutionary road.” Li Lishan pushed for the occupation of large cities, rather than expanding the rural Soviets. However his attempts to reinvigorate the labor movements in urban centers was not going well. In 1929 Joseph Stalin came under the belief the communist revolution in China was heating up, citing the economic depression because of the market crash of 1929 as evidence. He had the comintern to begin publishing a series of guidances and measures in February and June of 1929 that reemphasized urban insurrection. In September the Comintern pushed for the CCP to leverage labor unions as a means of delivering the revolution to the masses. In October the Comintern estimated that a crescendo was met and that the revolutionary upsurge was well on its way. Yet the Comintern did not know when the revolution would begin and its subsequent guidance became incoherent to the CCP. Regardless, the CCP took the guidance and prepared to start a revolution. By 1930 the Red Army remained the only force able to lead urban uprisings. Urban labor movements were still not complying, thus Li Lisan was forced to depend on the Red Army. He planned to gain control over the Red Army by establishing central party control over it, dividing the forces away from their leaders. In April of 1930 the Central Committee issued two resolutions for the creation of a General Front Committee to lead urban uprisings. Li Lisan also requested Mao Zedong and Zhu De travel to Shanghai to separate them from their troops. Neither would end up coming to Shanghai. In 1930 the CCP began promoting the Cominterns October directive, reaffirming to all conditions were ripe for revolution, despite the urban labor realities. In February the Conference of Delegates from the Soviet Areas repudiated Mao Zedong's strategies of encircling cities in favor of urban insurrections. To this the Central Committee chastised Mao Zedong and Zhu De's forces for having what they termed a “hide-and-disperse view,” and instead pushed for the Red Army to concentrate and attack. Clearly the Li Lisan plan was counter to Mao Zedongs. Mao Zedong was promoting slow expansion focusing on land distribution and establishing Soviets, rather than a full frontal attack and seizure of a city like Changsha. Mao Zedong foresaw a slow bottom up model; recruits would start as local village militia, become Red Guards, join the local Red Army forces and then the main Red Army units. Li Lisan saw this as defeatist and wanted to concentrate weapons instead of dividing them equally amongst local militias, Red Guards and other Guerilla units. Li Lisan also complained to his colleagues Mao Zedong's strategy was too slow and famously said “by such tactics our hair will be white before the revolution is victorious.”  By 1930 the CCP focused on two provinces to ignite its revolution. A series of uprisings would be unleashed in Nanchang, Changsha and Wuhan. It was believed if Wuhan fell, the revolution would spread to Shanghai setting off a worldwide chain of revolutionary events. Things were not looking good for uprisings in cities. From 1926 to 1930 the working class membership of the CCP had dropped from 66% to 8%. The Red Army, despite growing, suffered from a lack of equipment and training. Mao Zedong and Zhu De had their misgivings about the uprisings, but were something of a minority and complied nonetheless. On June 22nd they both issued orders to conduct attacks.  The 1st Red Army Corps, formed from the 4th Red Army was to attack Nanchang while the 3rd Red Army Corps, formed from Peng Dehuai's 5th Red Army would attack Changsha. Yet against the wishes of Li Lisan, Mao Zedong left 3 army units back at the Jiangxi Soviet to defend the area. The 3rd Red Army corps was the first to attack, capturing Changsha on July 29th. Peng Duhai quickly established a Soviet government with Li Lisan acting as its chairman. However the arrival of Red soldiers did not illicit an urban uprising. On July 30th, British, American, Italian and Japanese ships sailed up the Xiang River to defend their concessions and citizens. Naval bombardment coupled with a lack of urban support dislodged Peng Dehuai's men from the city by August 3rd. They did however grab as much money and supplies as they could on the way out. After their withdrawal, the NRA occupied the city and began purging all communist sympathizers they could find.  The first Red Army corps did not do much better. Mao Zedong and Zhu De's men attacked Nanchang, but initially dispatched reconnaissance forces into the city on August 1st. It was quickly determined that little progress could be made, so the forces moved to Liuyang in Hunan. At Liuyang the 1st and 3rd Red Armies consolidated their forces into the first front red army and planned their next move. The assessment for Changsha and Wuhan was quite grim. NRA forces had recently begun reinforcing the two cities while also establishing a defense in depth. Foreign naval ships were stationed along the Yangtze River providing fire support. Mao Zedong and Zhu De both argued against it, but reluctantly agreed to attack Changsha on September 1st.  The second attack against Changsha was a complete disaster. The better equipped enemy, within strong defensive positions, tossed the Red Army on its ass. After 10 days of fighting and facing severe losses, Mao Zedong and Zhu De made a bold move. They ordered a withdrawal on the 13th, stating that Li Lisan was wrong and a change of plan was required. This caused a deep divide in the Red Army, with many political commissars objective to the order. But the Red soldiers complied and conducted an orderly withdrawal. Now there emerged a faction in the CCP backed by Li Lisan calling for another attack against Nanchang. Mao Zedong and Zhu De believed it was impossible as the NRA held an even stronger position at Nanchang. Thus Mao Zedong came up with a compromise: they would attack Ji'an, a strategic city centered on the Jiangxi Soviet. If captured, the southwestern portion of the Jiangxi Soviet would be joined together to greatly expand the Soviet area.  On the morning of October 4th, the Red Army with local militias advanced into Ji'an from 3 different directions and by nightfall captured the city. This was facilitated by a large influx of peasant support for the Red Army, some claim over a million peasants marched upon the city to support the Reds. They also covertly raided the KMT HQ in Ji'an where they discovered documents about an upcoming NRA encirclement campaign. With this discovery the Li Lisan strategy ended as the CCP now needed to secure their survival. Li Lisans epic failure released a cascade of internal power grabs, that influenced the political and military direction going forward. After the second failure at Changsha, Mao Zedong began publicly attacking Li Lisan to increase his own standing. Within the Red Army two diverging viewpoints emerged, that of Mao Zedong's rural encirclement strategy and Li Lisans urban uprising strategy. Political commissars labeled Mao Zedong as treacherous for attacking Li Lisan, while the peasant troops all agreed with Mao Zedong. Mao Zedong was also confronted with another issue, the Jiangxi Provincial Action Committee was also looking to power grab. They were a newly formed committee who were vying for control over the Red Army. Mao Zedong was currently performing a survey over the rural area of Xingguo and while doing so he suddenly identified suspicious linkages between the KMT funded Anti-Boshevik Corps, aka the AB Corps, who had undercover agents charged with sabotaging communist units and the local Jiangxi Action Committee and 20th Red Army leaders such as one Li Wenlin. Armed with this evidence, Mao Zedong unleashed a huge purge of the Red Army. In November he arrested 4000 members of the 20th Red Army, including all but 2 members of the Jiangxi Provincial Action Committee, all charged with treason. The purge effectively negated his little problem, what a coincidence, but it would cause him some headaches. The following month, a battalion of the 20th Red Army led by Liu Dizao captured Futian and there they released 40 recently purged comrades who were suspected to have ties to the AB Corps. The men who let released them then took them across the Gan River to establish a new Soviet in Yongyang. From the Soviet the accused men looked to clear their names and appealed to the Central Committee as well as Zhu De and Peng Dehuai. The 20th Red Army argued they were wrongfully accused of being AB Corps members. It was their argument that Mao Zedong accused them because they had criticized him. A large group of the 20th Red Army left the Soviet apparently to perform peace talks in July of 1931, but would be arrested, put on trial and executed.  This became known as the Futian incident, though quite slanderous, it did not pick up a lot of steam at the time, mostly because the Comintern and Central Committee were too busy condemning Li Lisan for his failures. Zhou Enlai was sent back to Russia to try and clean up the embarrassing Changsha debacle. When h arrived, he distanced himself and the party from Li Lisan, and this effectively handed the congruence to Mao Zedongs strategy, further helping him consolidate power. Added to this the Comintern sent a letter to the CCP in November of 1930 stating Li Lisans ideas were inconsistent with the Cominterns guidance and antagonistic to the greater communist cause. Li Lisan was recalled to Moscow where he tried to save his ass. In the meantime the CCP's leadership had a difficult time regaining traction until late 1931. Now going back to the documents found, speaking about an encirclement campaign. The NRA dispatch a large force to deal with the Reds. It consisted of the 9th route Army led by the governor of Jiangxi, Lu Diping; the 6th route army from Hunan ld by Zhu Shaoling and the 19th Route army led by Jiang Guangnai. Altogether they were 44,000 men strong, divided into 5 divisions and 3 air-bombing corps. The plan was to encircle the Jiangxi Soviets, pressing them back into the mountains. Once fully encircled the NRA would attack Donggu, Longgang, and Dongshao. After the capture of Ji'an, the Red Army leadership alongside the Jiangxi Action Committee held a conference at Luofang on October 25th, to figure out how to respond to the incoming encirclement campaign. Many called for re-attacking Nanchang and Jiujiang to try and divert the NRA forces away from the Jiangxi Soviet. Mao Zedong argued instead to perform his classic “lure the enemy in deep” strategy. Essentially Mao Zedong wanted to trade land for time. Initially the Red ARmy would evacuate the western areas of the Gan River and head east to mobilize the local people, raise funds and recruit. The eastwards movement would also lure the NRA across the river into Red Army terrain, overstretching their logistics lines. This way the Reds could choose where to face the enemy and hopefully divide and conquer them. It was Mao Zedongs belief the only feasible way to defeat the NRA was to lure them in and then attack places like Nanchang and Jiujiang when they were depleted of defenders.  On November 1st the Red Army began advancing across the Gan River into Ji'an, Jishui, Xingan, Le'an, Yongfeng, Yihuang, Chongren and Nanfeng counties. Within 6 days the Red Army had seized 400,000 yuan and enlisted the support of the local populaces. During this time, members of the 3rd Red ARmy corps rebelled against Mao Zedong's strategy, arguing instead to occupy the western Gan River area. Peng Dehuai was able to suppress the dissension and by mid November the entire Red Army was occupying the eastern bank of the Gan River. The NRA followed the Reds across the Gan River. By November 18th the NRA were advancing in 3 columns; the first occupied Yongfeng and Jishui; the second occupied Le'an and Yihuang and the third occupied Ji'an. As the NRA continued to advance they had limited engagements against the Reds. By the 26th the Reds were now occupying Donggu, Nanlong and Longgang. Things were all going according to plan, but then the Futian incident hit on December 7th. The mutiny jeopardized the Red Army's western flank, forcing them to abandon Donggu and the Futian area by December 15th. The remainder of the 3rd ARmy corps advanced to the northern area of Ningdu county and then occupied Pingtian and Anfu.  NRA intelligence began figuring out there was internal strife amongst the Reds and exploited it. On the 16th Lu Diping ordered 2 divisions to encircle and attack Donggu. The 5th and 18th NRA divisions attacked Donggu forcing the Reds to withdraw while attacking the 5th NRA as they did so. The 2 NRA divisions entered the Donggu area each on the opposite side of a ridgeline unable to know what was going on with the other. On the 20th the 18th NRA attacked Donggu with artillery, unknowingly firing upon their comrades in the 5th NRA for half of a day. By the end of December the NRA forces had taken most of the Jiangxi Soviet. However the NRA forces logistical lines were overextended, exposing them to constant guerrilla attacks. They had captured numerous towns each requiring occupation forces seeing only a third of the troops actually at the front lines. The communist efforts to gain the support of the local populaces also saw them hindering the NRA occupational forces. The local populace spied upon the NRA and provided the Reds with information about a pending attack against Longgang.  2 brigades of the NRA 18th Division were going to attack Longgang on December 30th. With this information the Red Army countered by encircling the 2 brigades using mountainous terrain to mass fires and cut off any reinforcements. On the morning of the 30th, the NRA forces entered Longgang only to be surrounded. The 1st Red Army Corps attacked the 2 brigades while the 4th red Army and elements of the 3rd Red Army Corps blocked the 18th NRA division's rear preventing them from helping from Donggu. By the end of the day the Reds had taken 9000 prisoners, including the divisional commander, Zhang Huizan. Hearing word of the 18th Divisions plight, Lu Diping ordered a withdrawal of the forces to consolidate and reorganize. Tan Daoyuan's 15th NRA division advanced south towards Yuantou. Again the local populace spied and fed the Reds intel, allowing them to quickly pursue them. On the morning of January 3rd, the Red ARmy attacked the 15th NRA division near Dongshao from 3 different directions. The NRA routed under the attack, many of the troops simply tossed weapons and ran. Meanwhile the 3rd Red Army was unable to fully encircle them allowing many to escape. But nonetheless they managed to capture 3000 prisoners, 4000 rifles, 40 machine guns and a cache of ammunition. The defeats at Longgang and Dongshao effectively ended the first NRA encirclement campaign, providing the Reds with numerous recruits, a lot of equipment and much experience. The destruction of multiple NRA divisions saw 15,000 prisoners, 12,000 weapons captured and had validated Mao Zedongs strategies. The victories spread word of the communist forces' strength in the region and this began to swing the tide of public favor. The Red Army followed this up by executing Zhang Huizan, the commander of the 18th NRA division. His head was sent to Ji'an to serve as a warning. From march to April the Red Army held 4 different meetings to determine strategy going forward. During the first meeting on March 18th many were calling for vacating the Soviet areas because of the NRA's numerical superiority. Yet no decision was made. The next meeting a month later the same argument was made, but others also advocated for staying and dividing into small units in order to conduct coordinated attacks to break the encirclement and destroy their enemy. Again no decision was made. A third meeting occurred days later, this time acting on Mao Zedong's advice, the Red Army leadership invited different military units to participate. Dividing forces gained traction, but now they were first asking to make a concentrated attack on the 19th NRA route army to establish a route out of the encirclement. Mao Zedong agreed to this idea, but argued it should be levied against the 5th route army who were facing many issues. The 5th route army were originally from Northern China, thus unfamiliar with the territory. The meeting saw an agreement on attacking and then dividing, but no agreement on target. The final meeting was held in late April, this time with Mao Zedong given the floor to present his perspective. He gave an impassioned speech arguing that luring the enemy in deep made the most sense for 2 reasons. 1) the Red Army and local populace had experience and resolve to defeat the enemy; 2 ) they knew the terrain, Mao Zedong outlined how they could sweep east across the Soviet, hitting the enemy from Futian to Jianning. With the terrain would allow the Reds to isolate the NRA from providing mutual support and allowing them to use overwhelming firepower. Mao Zedongs speech world, the strategy was finally approved. During the period between March and April, while the meetings were held, the Red Army began withdrawing troops from the fringes of the expanded Jiangxi Soviet. Beginning in March the Red Army abandoned the newly acquired towns of Toubei, Dongshao, Luokou, Futian, Tengtian and Zhaoxie. By April 23rd the Red Army had relocated with the 3rd army corps based in Longgang; the 3rd and 4th Red Army's were stationed in the mountains between Donggu and Futian and the rest of the first front red army in the vicinity of Ningdy. As NRA forces slowly occupied Futian and began advancing east towards Donggu, up in the Jiucun mountain range, the 4th Red Army, overlooking the road from Futian and Donggu prepared an ambush. On May 11th, the 47th and 28th NRA divisions walked directly into the ambush. The Red forces initially rolled boulders from the mountain tops, causing casualties and confusion. The 2 NRA divisions were taken by surprise and began signaling for help, but the Red Army severed their wired communications. Because of the mountains and treelines aerial visibility was poor, neutralizing the NRA's air forces.The 3rd Red Army descended the mountains and attacked the divisions fiercely. On the night of the 17th, the NRA forces had been defeated. 5000 guns, 50 machine guns, 30 artillery pieces and numerous supplies were captured. Meanwhile the 43rd NRA division originally enroute towards Tantou, received word of the defeat at Zhongdong, so they changed direction towards Shuinan. They planned to ford the Xiaolong River near Shuinan to consolidate their forces. However local communist militia groups had taken the bridge forcing the NRA to advance to Baisha. On May 19th the Red Army defeated the 43rd NRA division at Baisha, seizing 4000 weapons, 30 machine guns and 2 artillery pieces. The NRA attempted to reinforce them with the 19th route army, but they were too late to the scene and upon seeing the destruction pulled back to Xingguo. These 2 defeats effectively destroyed the 5th NRA route army.  Initially the 26th NRA route army was ordered to occupy Nantuan and then advance east. However once they occupied the city, their 27th division received orders to reinforce the NRA position at Zhongcun while the 25th division remained in Nantuan. Before the 27th division could advance, the 3rd Red Army Corps and 4th Red Army attacked Zhongcun, decimating its defenders and occupying the city on May 22nd. That night the Red Army continued to Nantuan where they destroyed the 25th division. This caused the remaining NRA forces to retreat to Le'an and Yihuang. The Red Army captured 3000 weapons, 10 machine guns and effectively eliminated the 26th NRA route army.  Hearing of the destruction of the 26th and 5th route armies, the NRA began withdrawing back to Nancheng. The 5th Division was the last unit trying to depart Guangchang when it was attacked by the 3rd and 4th Red Armies on May 27th. The 5th Division performed a fighting withdrawal to Nanfeng, losing many in the process. Meanwhile at Jianning in Fujian, the 4th Red Army was occupying Guangchang trying to consolidate their gains with a single division advancing north towards Nanfeng. The 3rd Red army corps and 12th Red Army advanced east, hunting down NRA forces into Jianning by May 30th. The attack caught the 56th NRA division completely off guard. They had not yet even established any defensive works. They were routed as the Reds occupied Jianning destroying a NRA regiment in the process. Along with captured numerous war materials the Reds also got their hands on much needed medical supplies. In the course of two weeks the Reds had traveled over 300km's captured 30,000 prisoners and captured 20,000 weapons. The newfound equipment was enough to outfit the entire first front red army with all modern weaponry, while the older equipment was given to local militia groups. The Red's success was due to good intelligence and mobility. The second encirclement campaign attempt by the NRA had caused the Soviet to grow nearly 5000 square miles. In June the first front Red Army was still in Western Fujian conducting operations. Initially the Reds did not expect the NRA to initiate a third encirclement campaign so quickly after their failure. The Rds had planned a 3 phase expansion operation in the meantime. Its first phase would encompass political mobilization in Jianning, Taining and Lichuan; the second phase involved marching back into southern Jiangxi to consolidate strength in the rear area; the last phase would send the Red Army back to its original base area focusing on the western Gan River area to try and connect the Jiangxi Soviet with the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet.  The Red army were beginning to receive intelligence reports stating the NRA were beginning to move towards Jiangxi. In response to this the Central Committee issued advice in June of 1931 to counter the new encirclement campaign. They basically just adopted Mao Zedong's strategy used in the first two campaigns. They argued it was essential to politically mobilize local populaces and support small guerilla units to perform attacks on the NRA forces and prevent them from gaining a stable foothold in the area. They also advocated for the consolidation of the Soviets in the area, this being the Henan-Hubei-Anhui Soviet, Hunan-Hubei Soviet and northeast Jiangxi Soviet. The ultimate goal was to link them all up to form a Red Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi area and perhaps even establish communications with some other Soviets in the north. After sending the advice the Central Committee was forced back underground as the KMT unleashed a suppression campaign in Shanghai. It would not be until August 30th when the Central Committee re-established communications with the Soviets, but by that time the encirclement campaign was over. On June 30th, the Red Army got to work preparing defenses. All local militias, Red Guards and guerilla units were activated to conduct delaying actions and defend localities from the NRA advance. The Red Army, roughly 30,000 men strong pulled back inwards into the central base areas in Jiangxi.This was a difficult task as many of them were spread far into western Fujian and southern Jiangxi. After the 2 failed encirclement campaigns, Chiang Kai-Shek had taken notice and personally took over the third campaign. With him came his own troops as he deployed the 5th and 6th NRA divisions to Jiangxi to attack the 1st and 3rd red army corps. Chiang Kai-Sheks entire force consisted of 2 army corps, with another in reserve and one garrison army. Altogether they were 130,000 strong. In late June the NRA forces advanced into the Jiangxi Soviet. By the end of July they had encircled the entire Jiangxi Soviet. Even with the encirclement the local populace continued to support the Red Army, providing supplies and food. On July 31st the Red Army conducted a daring breakthrough from Xingguo, moving west to Wan'an before circling back to Futian to hit the NRA rear. The Red Army managed to escape the encirclement, but while heading to Futian, the NRA discovered what they were doing and quickly reinforced the area and seized Xingguo. On August 3rd the Red Army began occupying the areas near Gaoxing and Laoyingpan. The Red Army conducted a feint in the north using the 35th red Army, 35th division, 12th red army and the 4th and 5th independent divisions to draw the NRA's attention west towards Wan'an. As the NRA advanced the first red army corps began attacking through Longgang and Huangpi. On August 6th the 47th NRA division entered Liantang as the 54th NRA division occupied Huangpi. With only one NRA division occupying Liantang, the Red Army took the advantage and isolated them and attacked. The 3rd, 4th and 12th red armies attacked the lone NRA division, routing it before continuing towards Huangpi to attack the 45th NRA division. The 45th divisions HQ was annihilated in the process and by August 7th, two NRA brigades had been destroyed. The two NRA divisions had suffered more than 1000 casualties, with 3500 men captured and 3000 weapons and 14 artillery pieces lost. The Red Army then focused its attention against the 8th NRA division in Huangpi. On the 11th the 3rd Red army distracted the forces in Longgang with sporadic engagements trying to prevent them from reinforcing Huangpi. Meanwhile the 4th and 12th Red armies combated the 8th NRA division while the 3rd Red Army corps and 7th Red Division maneuvered east to cut off their escape route. Within the rainy and foggy weather the Reds annihilated 4 brigades, resulting in more than 1000 casualties, capturing 4000 prisoners, 3000 weapons, 11 artillery pieces and large ammunition cache. The victories also revealed the location of the main Red forces to the NRA. Chiang Kai-Shek acted by deploying all of his forces to surround the Huangpi area, effectively encircling the Red Army. For over a month the Red Army was under siege. Facing starvation and defeat, Mao Zedong and Zhu De hatched a bold plan to break out of the encirclement. They planned to split their forces, first by disguising the 12th red army as the bulk of their forces, having them advance northeast to attack Le'an and Yihuang. The remainder would then move west and occupy Xingguo. On the night of August the 16th the first front red army, minus the 12th red army silently slipped through a 10 km gap between the 1st and 2nd NRA corps heading towards Xingguo. As soon as elements of the 12th Red Army began attacking Le'An Chiang Kai-Shek pounced on them, deploying the 10th NRA division and 1st and 2nd NRA route armies. For two weeks the NRA chased the 12th Red army up and down mountain ranges. The NRA forces were exhausted and consumed a large part of their supplies, constantly attacked by guerillas. In the meantime the 1st the 3rd red army corps arrived at Xingguo undetected where they refitted and reorganized. By the end of August the NRA realized they had been duped and found out the main bulk of the Reds were at Xingguo. The NRA wheeled around to advance upon them, but just before they could two Guangdong Warlord factions rose up against the KMT, forming a rival government. Fearing an attack against Nanking, Chiang Kai-Shek temporarily lifted the encirclement campaign. As the NRA forces pulled away, the Red's attempted to exploit the situation.  On September 7th, the 3rd Red army and 5th independent red division attacked the 4th NRA corps at Laoyingpan, capturing 2000 men, 2000 weapons and 10 artillery pieces. On the 13th the 7th red army encircled the 4th NRA corps at Fangshiling mountain range while they were trying to retreat to Ji'an. In the process the Reds destroyed the 52nd NRA division and a brigade of the 9th NRA division. With that they captured 5000 prisoners, 4500 rifles and 200 horses. These victories however would be overshadowed by a major defeat at Gaoxing. On that same day the 4th Red Army and 3rd Red army corps were coordinating an assault against the first NRA corps. Based on poor intelligence, the Red Army misjudged their strength resulting in a bloody stalemate. By the end of the encirclement campaign the NRA had suffered greatly. The Reds had destroyed 17 NRA brigades, nearly 30,000 casualties. The Reds losses were quite heavy as well and compromised their position. Yet after these 3 failed encirclement campaigns the Jiangxi Soviet stood at 50,000 square kilometers, encompassing 28 counties in Hunan, Jiangxi and Fujian.  I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Thus the Reds had survived 3 brutal encirclement campaigns. Even when Chiang Kai-Shek took notice and personally directed his own forces to quell the Red menace, they simply slipped through his hands. Mao Zedong's strategies were working and further boosting his standing amongst his comrades.  

Last time we spoke about the Central Plains War. Chiang Kai-Shek faced a formidable anti-Chiang coalition led by Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang, and Li Zongren. Zhang Xueliang, initially absent, worked tirelessly from Mukden to prevent Northern warlords from joining the coalition. The conflict, exacerbated by severe famine in Shaanxi that fueled unrest, saw major battles as Chiang's forces clashed with the anti-Chiang fronts across multiple railways. Despite initial setbacks, Chiang's strategic maneuvers and alliances, including a pivotal deal with Zhang Xueliang, gradually turned the tide. The Young Marshal's entry into the fray and the subsequent defections from Feng Yuxiang's camp weakened the anti-Chiang forces. By October, the anti-Chiang leaders, overwhelmed and isolated, sought peace. The Central Plains War, a grueling seven-month struggle, ended with the anti-Chiang factions disbanding, leaving China's civil war landscape dramatically altered. Within the vacuum, the CCP was thriving, but now the Generalissimo could direct his full attention on the Red Menace.   #125 From the Jinggangshan Mountains to the Jiangxi Soviet Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. The last time we were talking about the CCP, they had performed the Nanchang uprising, Autumn Harvest Uprisings and the Guangzhou uprising. These all did not go very well and literally saw the surviving CCP forces fleeing for their lives into the mountains. Their experiences during these uprisings reinforced the idea they required a strong military force to push forward a new agrarian-based communist revolution. To develop such conditions favoring a revolution, Mao Zedong and Zhu De adapted the Red Army and CCP policies to the local conditions in order to recruit, sustain and retain loyal troops and build a relationship between the army, local populaces and party.  After the collapse of the Harvest Autumn Uprisings, the Red Army scattered into the rural parts of China. Mao Zedong himself narrowly escaped capture by the NRA, as he made his way to Sanwan of Jiangxi province. Countless were killed, arrested or deserted. Less than 1000 Red soldiers remained from the original uprising force. Moral was law, there lacked direction, there existed conflicting loyalties and many blamed Mao Zedong for the failings. In order to counteract this, Mao Zedong held a conference on September 29th of 1927 whereupon he implemented a series of radial policies to stave off an implosion. He began streamlining the command structure, instituted political representatives within each unit to instill revolutionary spirit within the troops. A political cell was established in each squad, a branch at company levels and a party committee at the battalion and regiment level. Next he established troop soviets within the units to provide a form of democratic centralism within the units. Additional he began spinning the narrative in his own favor, shifting blame for the failed uprisings to the collective poor understanding of the revolutionary course within China, rather than upon her leadership. Now initially a large part of the Red Army wanted to return to their hometown of Anyuan, but the local military presence was too strong there. Another option was needed and quickly as they had many sick and wounded amongst their ranks. They looked to the nearby Jinggang Mountain Area as a temporary fix. Many of Mao Zdong's former Peasant Movement Training students knew the area well. Jinggangshan meaning “well ridge mountain”, derived its name from the 5 villages around its main city of Ciping: Big Well, Middle Well, Little Well, Upper Well, and Lower Well. The mountain is situated in the Luoxian range, straddling the border between Jiangxi and Hunan. It also happens to be a place where 4 counties converge: Lingxian, Suichuan, Ninggang and Yongxin. Surrounding it were factional and political enemies, thus preventing most provincial forces from really coordinating efforts or massing against them. The terrain provided ample defensive obstacles. It also stood in the midpoint between Changsha, Nanchang and Guangdong, offering the Red Army flexibility to try and finish the uprisings they started in those locations. Given the weak state the Red Army was in, it would not be feasible to occupy Jinggangshan by force. Jinggangshan was controlled by two bandit leaders named Yuan Weicai and Wang Zuo. Mao Zedong was forced to negotiate with the two to come to an arrangement. The CCP was of course concerned about the trustworthiness of the two bandit leaders. At an early meeting in Gucheng, some CCP members of the front committee doubted the revolutionary character of Yuan and Wang, believing them to only be bandits at heart. Mao Zedong on the other hand argued the two leaders and their loyal followers were crucial to the communist movement. I would argue Mao Zedong was grasping at straws.  As for Yuan and Wang, their primary concerns were the impact of a new military force affecting the regional balance of power. In essence the mountain areas outside the major cities had a complex power dynamic. Bandits and local elites maintained the status quo, any change to that power dynamic could lead to problems. There was also an ethnicity issue. Jinggangshan was considered something of a Hakka ancestral land, and the Han settlers amongst them were more like guests. There always remained a Hakka-Han tension, and this prompted Hakka to vet any Hans coming in. Mao first convinced Yuan how a partnership would be mutually beneficial. In exchange for food, housing and local support the Red Army would provide weapons, training and support Yuan and Wang's operations. Mao presented Yuan with a gift of 100 rifles to sweeten him over. Mao then made a similar gesture to Wang, sending him 70 rifles. The two bandit leaders let the Red Army right in. Upon arriving, the Red Army began conducting guerilla operations and peasant mobilization. On October 7th, 1927 the began activity in Maoping and moved to Ciping. While marching they passed through Lingixan and Shuikou villages, attacking the local elites and their militias, freeing prisoners in jails and holding mass rallies to recruit. On the 22nd they reached Dafen, where they were ambushed by a local militia. Using their knowledge of the terrain the militia inflicted severe casualties, forcing the Red Army to retreat towards Wang Zuo for aid. Wang Zuo was wary of them, but Mao Zedong won him over by promising more weapons and training for his bandits. Mao also pledged to support him against his local rivals, one of whom was Xiao Jiabi. Wang's bandits and the Reds joined forces in Dajing and together seized Shimen. Then the Reds arrived in Ciping on October 15th. They quickly seized the city center and within a month's time established a base of operations. The CCP quickly expanded its influence in the surrounding area, preying upon local populations where government control was weak or in flux. By mid November the Red Army dispatched a battalion west to capture Chaling. This success allowed them to further expand into Suichang in January of 1928. In February the Red Army occupied its first major city, Xincheng in Ningang country. Within two months of action the Reds had nearly doubled their territory now occupying portions of 3 counties. For the most part Mao Zedong was left alone because of the political shakeup after the failed uprisings in the larger metropolitan areas. Contact with the provincial and regional CCP community still existed though. Zhou Lu, a member of the southern Hunan special committee heard about the CCP expansion in the mountain areas and came to inspect them. While at Jinggangshan he gave Mao Zedong orders to dispatch his unit to support Zhu De's forces in a uprising about to hit southern Hunan. After the failed Nanchang Uprising, Zhu De took the remnants of his forces and fled into southern Jiangxi and then Fujian where he linked up with a fellow Yunnanese NRA leader, Fan Shisheng. They stayed with Fan Sisheng's unit awhile, but once rumors spread he was harboring Reds they had to go. By January of 1928 they fled for southern Hunan to try and support urban uprisings. Upon arriving, Zhu De's force began augmenting the local peasantry forces and Zhou Lu said he would get Mao Zedong to lend his support. However the uprising never really got its legs. It began in late January, but the urban workers and local populace couldn't rise as expected. Instead local support turned against the communists. Likewise Mao Zedong's men never made it to southern Hunan, he had intentionally dragged his feet on the issue. Instead Mao Zedong focused his attention in central Hunan holding rallies and mobilizing local peasant groups. Thus Zhu De was pounced upon by local warlord groups in Guangdong and Hunan. Zhu De's Red Army engaged the warlord armies as they slowly retreated into Jinggangshan. Zhu De and Mao Zedong would meet in Maoping for a conference. On May 20th, 1928 they agreed to establish the Jinggangshan Special Committee, with Mao Zedong as its general secretary. Additionally the 4th Red Army was created and nicknamed the Ironsides Army. The 4th Red Army was roughly 12,000 men strong consisting of Zhu De's Nanchang uprising force, now designated the 28th regiment, Mao Zedongs Autumn Uprising force now designated the 31st regiment, Yuan Wencai and Wang Zuo's bandits, later designated the 32nd regiment and the Hunan uprising force now designed the 29th regiment. Zhu De's arrival also brought in a traditional military mindset, adding some more professionalism to the Red Army. Here Zhu De also made a famous quote “When the enemy advances, we retreat; when the enemy halts and encamps, we harass them; when the enemy seeks to avoid battle, we attack; and when the enemy retreats, we pursue”. This statement would guide much of the Red Army's actions going forward. The increase in communist numbers brought unwanted attention immediately from Jiangxi and Hunan forces. The first major military campaign against the Reds began in May of 1928 and was led by Zhu Peide wielding Jiangxi provincial military units. The campaign was based out of Yongxin with the Jiangxi government unleashing the 27th division. One regiment garrisoned at Yongxin was held as reserve while the division sent another regiment to attack the Red Army stronghold in Nanchang and another regiment flanked to the east. The Reds countered by stationing a regiment in the mountains to protect the base, another regiment to defend the mountain passes and 2 regiments to conduct spoiling attacks on the Jiangxi regiments flank. The Red Army was able to destroy the flanking unit, forcing them to retreat back to Yongxin. They pursued them to Yongxin, destroying its garrison regiment in the process. The Red Army then maneuvered to the rear of the Jiangxi division pushing them to pull back to Ji'an. Thus the Reds occupied Yongxin where they went to work establishing a worker-peasant government, expanding the Soviet across the county.  A second encirclement campaign was unleashed in late MAy, with the same Jiangxi 27th division leading the action. This time they were reinforced as they quickly recaptured Yongxin and began cautiously pursuing the Reds into the mountains. The Reds tried to exploit the terrain for guerilla warfare but was met with little success. The Red 28th regiment was soon forced to help distressed red forces at Chaling county. However the Jiangxi Division did not account for the Red Army's mobility. The Red 31st regiment quickly assumed the 28th regiments former defensive positions offering a stiff fight against the Jiangxi forces. When the 28th regiment returned to reinforce the 31st they hit the enemy's rear and advanced upon Yongxin again while the Jiangxi forces pulled back to Ji'an again.  Another encirclement campaign was unleashed the following June this time seeing Jiangxi and Hunanese forces work together against the Reds. The Jiangxi 9th division was deployed in combination with the remaining 2 regiment of the 27th Jiangxi division. The Jiangxi forces performed a frontal attack through the mountain passes using 3 regiments. Meanwhile the Red Army had to perform a feint attack in the east to occupy a Hunanese division. The Red Army deployed a battalion augmented by local guerilla groups along the western flank of the mountain passes. Guerilla attacks on the eastern flank of the Jiangxi forces caused the commander to maintain 2 regiments at Yongxin. Exploiting the mountain terrain the Red Army managed to destroy one regiment as they funneled up the passes. This small victory brought much needed arms and new soldiers who quickly recaptured Yongxin for a third time.  By the end of June, the Jinggangshan base had basically hit its apex in terms of size. They now controlled Ninggang, Yongxin, Lianhua counties and parts of Ji'an and Anfu. At this point Chiang Kai-Shek took notice of the Red gains and directed a new campaign against them. Another series of campaigns were unleashed seeing Hunanese and Jiangxi armies attack the 4th Red Army beginning in July 1928. The Hunan 8th Army began their attack from the west through Ninggang while the Jianxi army unleashed 11 regiments from the 3rd and 6th armies through Yongxin against the eastern border of Jinggangshan. To meet this threat the Reds kept 2 regiments to defend the bases while the 28th and 29th regiments advanced west to slip behind the Hunanese forces to conduct raids against their rear. Meanwhile local Red Army militia forces began a scorched earth strategy removing all food, poisoning water sources and evacuating villagers to deny their enemy. The Hunan 8th army was forced to retreat in the face of this, allowing the Reds to focus on the Jiangxi forces around Yongxin. The 28th and 29th regiments advanced west to support the attack against the Jiangxi forces, but then suddenly turned south towards southern Hunan, citing orders to assist the Southern Hunan Special Committee. Then these 2 regiments attacked the city of Chenzhou, roughly 200 kms away from the Jinggangshan mountains. There they defeated local forces. Afterwards the Red troops began strolling through the streets of Chenzhou as civilians, many of them had families in the area. Some began looting the area. They had made the egregious error of now pursuing their enemy further and gave them too much respite to reorganize themselves. The local forces counterattacked driving the 28th regiment to withdraw with little casualties. The 29th regiment fared much worse, being ambushed trying to retreat over the only bridge leading in Chengzhou. They suffered heavy casualties and many of their surviving forces simply joined the 28th regiment as a result. Meanwhile with the 2 regiments gone from the mountain, the NRA forces were emboldened. 3 Hunanese regiment joined 11 Jiangxi regiments to attack the Jinggangshan mountains. The remaining Reds employed every tactic they knew to survive. They began giving up terrain as the enemy penetrated closer to the mountain base. The 31st and 32nd regiments found themselves retreating to the protection of higher ground, where the established defensive positions along key routes to maximize casualties upon the invaders. Mao Zedong took a battalion from the 3st regiment south to escort the incoming 28th regiment, further weakening the lines. Meanwhile guerillas raided the flanks and rear of the advancing NRA forces heading up the mountain. After repeated failed attempts to get to the peaks of the mountains,the Jiangxi and Hunanese forces ultimately had to withdraw come September allowing the 28th regiment to safely get back to Jinggangshan. From there the Red Army contuined to fight and recapture lost territory. By October they retook Ninggang county and portions of Suichuang, Lixing and Yongxin, but were unable to reclaim everything they once had.  Another campaign coincided with an economic blockade and the arrival of General Peng Dehaui's 5th Army. The Jiangxi and Hunanese forces adopted blockade tactics, normally employed against bandits, to try and deprive the Reds from using markets in the lowlands. Starting in the fall of 1928, NRA and local militias established checkpoints along all routes and trails leading into the Jinggangshan mountains. Local private armies with troops familiar with the area conducted interdiction patrols to capture anyone trying to get past blockades. The blockade halted most local trade, meaning little medicine, clothing, food or salt was getting into Janggangshan. The Reds began subsisting on sweet potatoes and pumpkins, then Peng Dehuais 5th army arrived in December worsening the burden on the area. Simulteanously NRA forces from Fujian were added to the Jiangxi and Hunanese to fully surround the mountains in preparation for a offensive.  In the face of all of this the 4th Red Army's leadership convened a conference at Bailu. The attendees all were trying to figure out how to overcome the situation but their options were very limited. Many called for the same tactics that had been winning them the battles as before. Some called for withdrawing to a safer area momentarily and launch a counterattack when the enemy lightened up. The economic blockade exacerbated the civilian military relations in the mountains and it seemed the local populace was no longer willing to help the Reds. The last option many advocated for was to mount a defense of the mountain range, but this would not allow for any withdrawal route for the 6000 or so troops. Ultimately the adoptd a hybrid solution. The 4th army would break through the blockade to try and draw forces away from the mountains while also obtaining supplies. The 5th army who were pretty battered from their march would defend mountains and base. On January 14th of 1929 the 4th army led by Zhu De and Mao Zedong broke through the blockade and headed south into Jiangxi.  The 4th army at first was only meeting light resistance as they captured Suichuan and Shangyu. After this they headed for Dayu, but there found 3 Jiangxi regiments who ambushed them. The Reds were forced north into the Xingguo-Ji'an area. They marched 30 days, often 30 miles per day to avoid their pursuers, while taking casualties and losing equipment. They found themselves at Dabaidi village on February 10th where 2 regiments of the 15th NRA division fought them. The Reds routed the NRA forces and even captured the two regimental commanders alongside 800 soldiers and their equipment. This victory earned the 4th army a safe place to rest up for quite some time. As we saw in the former episodes, the Chiang-Gui and Central Plains War engulfed Chiang Kai-Sheks attention, giving the Reds some breathing space. During this period, Mao Zedong and Zhu De expanded that is referred to as the Jiangxi Soviet. They did so through a series of campaigns into western Fujian. In February 1929 the 4th army incorporated 2 independent guerilla regiments and used them to occupy Ji'an, Ningdu and Ruijin. In March they entered western Fujian and captured Tingzhou. At Tingzhou the Reds got 3000 NRA soldiers to defect. From Tingzhou they expanded the Jiangxi Soviet to encompass over 20 counties in Jiangxi and Fujian. In light of their major accomplishments, Mao Zedong dispatched word to the Central Committee proclaiming all they had done in Jiangxi and Fujian. In May the Red Army unleashed a second campaign into western Fujian, this time capturing Longyan and Yongding. With every successful campaign the Red Army recruits more soldiers, obtained more equipment, more territory and acquired further fundings sources.  The early days of the Jiangxi Soviet were quite chaotic. Despite the Red Army's expansion, in reality they were not a unified force. Numerous factions with their own ideologies existed. The Red Army was an amalgamation of different groups coming together less so of a common goal, more so out of survival. Many of the soldiers were former peasants, but there were also former NRA troops, warlord troops and bandits. The traditions of these different groups, coupled with a lack of education in the rural areas creating a boiling pot of bad behaviors and this hurt morale. To accommodate this the Red Army made itself extremely flexible in the early days. In the early days it was only about survival. Mao Zedong and Zhu De recognized the fact, in a conventional battle the Red Army stood no chance against even a Warlord Army, let alone the NRA. Thus the 4th army created a new political-military strategy within the rural areas to protect and grow the revolution. The first part of the strategy adopted by Mao Zedong was making alliances. It was a no brainer, increase numbers, gain more legitimacy, learn more about local areas, keep expanding. Yet the Central Committee frowned upon being too open to alliance, like with lets say, bandits? In 1928 a resolution from the CCP 6th Party Congress called for expelling bandits from the Red Army, but this obviously ran counter to everything going on in Jinggangshan. To remedy this, Mao Zedong simply did not comply and vetoed any plans made against the bandit leaders such as Yuan and Wang. The second strategy was adapting communist policies to local conditions. Contrary to the CCP guidance of attacking landlords and rich peasants, the Red Army tended to just attack those disliked by the local community. They often would avoid attacking popular landlords or rich peasants because it could endanger local support. Instead they would use propaganda and negotiations to win over such popular figures. Yet over time the strategies changed from survival to expansion. Mao Zedong described the CCP expansion to come in a series of waves. He believed a systematic development of rural Soviets was an effective way to encircle cities and create the conditions necessary for revolution.  To survive and expand the Red Army had to create a new way to fight their superior enemies. A famous slogan “the enemy advances, we retreat”, became doctrine quickly. The Red Army combined mobile warfare, guerilla warfare and propaganda against their rival the KMT. During the Jingangshan and Jiangxi Soviet period, guerilla warfare was the mainstay. It's purpose was not to gain victory, but to gain time, so the CCP could continue growing. The Red Army in Jinggangshan and Jiangxi focused on small-unit tactics, emphasizing scouting, patrolling, ambushing, mobility and so on. Most guerilla units were local militia units trained by Red Army officers, many of whom were also political leaders. They always sought to meet the enemy via ambush, during a raid, a feint attack or attacks to the rear and flank. Yet the Red Army did often find itself facing those like the NRA in conventional warfare. For these engagements it tended to be done only by the professional Red Army units. A major issue facing the Reds was logistics. They were guests in most of the areas they occupied and had to abide by the local customs. They also could not consume all the local resources in an area, it would hinder growth and foster resentment. Thus the Red Army had to make sure they gained as much as possible from battle. The capture of Tingzhou in 1929 was essentially an economic choice. There the Red Army captured 2 arsenals and a clothing factory. The Red Army also focused strongly on propaganda. Early on propaganda teams were created, each assigned 5 soldiers. These teams had one oratory section and one product section. The oratory section was responsible for spreading propaganda in village markets, centers and halls. The products section was responsible for creating propaganda products. They would go around towns placing up signs and banners to increase awareness. Typically in a month the propaganda teams would hold a large mass rally in the center part of town to vie for local support. They would try to tailor their messaging to meet the local needs. These efforts would help recruitment, elicit support and differentiate them from the run of the mill bandits. If the conditions became ripe and a local populace was sufficiently agitated by social inequalities, the Red Army leaders would make a call for action to topple the local government and push the people to create their own. The Red Army was very careful on who to replace in such situations as the local leadership typically proved useful at transitioning. The Red Army had a selective way of executing key leaders who would be the most troublesome towards their communist needs.  When a new local government sprung up, the CCP would entice everyone to join the Red Army. This saw people join different parts of the Red Army. For teenagers there was the communist youth organization which was basically a feeder unit into the Red Army. The Red Guard was a local militia group that protected the community and supplemented the Red Army when needed. Those who proved themselves capable could join the Red Army proper. The Red Army instituted a series of organizational changes to establish loyalty to the CCP and allow for a dispersion of forces. Initially the Red Army applied the Russian Soviet and NRA models, but changes were necessary to meet local conditions. When the 4th Red Army captured Sanwan, Mao Zedong established party rule over the army by using party representatives and soldier soviets. The party representatives and army leaders held equal footing, allowing for both to have greater oversight into the issues and concerns of the other. It was commonplace in Warlord armies and the NRA for soldiers to be abused. This quasi democratization allowed soldiers to have a greater voice. On June 22nd of 1929 the 4th Red Army held their 7th representative congress in Longyan. Mao Zedong spoke much of party control over the military, ruffling a lot of feathers and would contribute to his failure at becoming the Front Committee secretary General that year. In the wake of that loss, Mao Zedong departed for Fujian to assist the mass mobilization going on over there whence he became quite ill. During that period, Chen Yi representing the 4th Red Army in Shanghai reported to the Central Committee. Based on his reports they authorized political communist control over the Red Army units. At least vindicated that his ideas were accepted, Mao Zedong attended the 9th Representative Congress in Gutian county of Fujian. Here he would issue a famous statement “On the Rectification of Incorrect Ideas in the Party” . It outlined his views on the Red Army and what needed to be improved. That same conference gave a platform to Mao Zedong and Zhu De to push for further centralization of power within the Red Army. The Red Army had suffered numerous casualties, desertions and received numerous new recruits. Because of this Mao Zedong believed the military structure needed change. There was also the issue of factionalism within the Red Army. Mao Zedong believed more educated and centralized control would help maintain the unity of the armed forces.  In December of 1929 a conference was held in Gutian seeing more initiatives adopted to help consolidate military power under party control. The Red Army adopted the political commissariat system from the Soviet Red Army, placing greater control of the army into the hands of the political commissar. The political commissar had political training, but did not have the same power over political operations. The introduction of former KMT and NRA members into the Red Army increased a need for more political indoctrination. Alongside this the Gutian Conference reiterated the equality amongst soldiers and civilians. Mao Zedong and Zhu De understood the important role of military training for the Red Army. Two major groups of soldiers already had formal training, former NRA and graduates of the Peasant movement training institute. Many of these men were lost in the initial battles however leading the Red Army to be filled with peasants with little to any combat experience. Another issue was the Red Guards lacking any experience, requiring Red Officers to be pulled from front lines to help them out. By developing a competent and trained local force, this further allowed the Red Army to advance outside its borders and expand.  With a lack of discipline a lot of property damage became common. To combat this, Mao Zedong initially instituted three disciplines in 1927 (1) obey orders in all your actions; (2) don't take anything from the workers and peasants; and (3) when attacking the local bullies, turn over whatever you take from them. This was expanded further into 8 by 1930 (1) Put back the doors [you have taken down for bed boards]; (2) put back the straw [you have used for bedding]; (3) pay fairly for what you buy; (4) return everything you borrow; and (5) pay for anything you damage. Mao and Zhu later added two more points of attention: (7) defecate only in latrines, and (8) do not steal from captives. The purpose of such rules was two-fold, to curb reckless soldierly behavior and to not piss off local communities.  Yet discipline alone does not guarantee success in war. The 4th Army held many senior leaders who had trained at Baoding, Whampoa and the Yunnan military schools. But at the lower levels the military experience was quite uneven. The Red Army needed to create a universal standard. Mao Zedong established the first training unit, the 31st regiment training units in December of 1927 at the Longjiang academy in the Jingangshan mountains. Zhu De and Chen Yi would create similar units. Once in Jiangxi the Red Army established mobile schools that accompanied the forces to the front lines. The pressure from the KMT led encirclement campaigns made it impossible to implement a normal education system. While schools were important, for many soldiers the only way to learn was from doing. Sometimes conditions did not allow for the training, and the students were thrust into combat immediately. Mao stated “to learn warfare through warfare—this is our chief method.” However many of the new recruits and junior leaders never received formal education and found classes and training boring. To retain interest, practical exercises were used. By the beginning of 1930, the 4th Red Army had expanded from Jinggangshan to Jiangxi, Hunan and Fujian. Additionally 7 other Soviets were established in the interior of China, demonstrating the viability of the CCP model. For a large part it was the efforts of Mao Zedong and Zhu De that allowed the CCP to thrive. However major issues loomed externally and internally. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Mao Zedong had forged a seed in the Jinggangshan mountains the would grow into the base of a new 4th Red Army. Forming alliances with local groups and adopting new innovative strategies to survive allowed the 4th Red Army to expand and with it Mao Zedong's career. Yet externally and internally enemies lay everywhere.   

Last time we spoke about the Chiang-Gui War. China was reunified, but not was all well in Camelot. Chiang Kai-Shek initially popular, faced opposition from various factions, including Northern warlords and rival generals. The KMT decided to relocate the capital from Beijing to Nanking, which sparked resistance from those attached to Beijing's rich history. The KMT then struggled with demobilizing the massive National Revolutionary Army, which had over 2 million troops. Chiang Kai-Shek aimed to reduce this number significantly but faced challenges, including discontent among warlords like Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan. Tensions escalated into the Chiang-Gui War, where Chiang defeated the Guangxi Clique led by Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi. This victory, however, did not end the turmoil as Feng and Yan formed an anti-Chiang coalition with Wang Jingwei. The struggle led to a dramatic showdown, culminating in the Taiyuan Conference where Yan Xishan was promoted to commander-in-chief, setting the stage for further conflict.   #123 The Central Plains War  Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. We last left off with basically every other big dog in China getting ready to gang up on Chiang Kai-Shek. Yan Xishan was now the commander in chief of an anti-chiang coalition with his deputy commanders being Feng Yuxiang, Li Zongren and Zhang Xueliang….however Zhang Xueliang was nowhere to be found. During what has been referred to as the “telegram war” period, the Young Marshal had actually spent the entire time in Mukden frantically telegraming all the significant North Chinese warlords and generals to not join the anti-chiang movement.  To take a small sidestep. In the last episode I explained why Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi and their Guangxi clique turned against Chiang Kai-Shek, but what motivations did someone like Feng Yuxiang and his Guominjun have to do so? A severe famine hit the Guanzhong region of Shaanxi, where Feng Yuxiang held power. This famine, which occurred in the 18th year of the Republic of China, is also referred to as the "Famine of the 18th Year of the Republic of China." Within Shaanxi, a year without any harvest is called a famine year, two consecutive years of poor harvest are also labeled famine years, and three consecutive years are considered a severe famine. During the 18th year of the Republic of China, the region faced an extreme famine with virtually no harvest for six consecutive seasons over three years. Some considered it a once-in-a-century event, while others claimed it was a disaster seen once in 300 years. According to modern historical records and newspaper reports, Shaanxi experienced drought in 1928, which caused poor summer wheat yields, while autumn and winter crops could not be planted due to a lack of rain. By 1929, the drought worsened. No rain fell from spring through autumn, drying up wells and rivers like the Jing, Wei, Han, and Bao. Most trees withered, and crops failed—summer harvests only amounted to 20%, and autumn yields were nonexistent. The famine was so severe that grass roots and tree bark became scarce, with the roads littered with corpses and countless people fleeing the area. According to a report by the Shaanxi Disaster Relief Committee on September 5 of that year, 91 of the province's 92 counties were affected by the drought. Except for a few counties along the Wei River that had some green crops, the rest were barren. Among the 91 counties, 24 were extremely severely affected, 27 severely affected, 15 moderately affected, and 25 slightly affected. The most severely hit areas included Chang'an, Wugong, Fengxiang, Fufeng, Qianxian, Qishan, Meixian, Xingping, Xianyang, Lintong, Weinan, Zhouzhi, and others. Out of a total population of over 9.4 million, 2.5 million people died of starvation, approximately 400,000 fled, and over 200,000 women were sold to other regions such as Henan, Shanxi, Beiping, Tianjin, and Shandong. Back in 1927, Chiang Kai-shek established the KMT's new government in Nanking. By June, Chiang and Feng Yuxiang succeeded in uniting the two Kuomintang warlord factions during the Xuzhou Conference. In February 1928, Chiang and Feng solidified their alliance by becoming sworn brothers. Before the launch of the "Second Northern Expedition," Chiang Kai-shek had control over the central KMT government and occupied affluent areas like Shanghai, Nanjing, and Hangzhou. Feng Yuxiang, on the other hand, controlled the impoverished and remote northwest, where transportation was difficult. He saw the Northern Expedition as an opportunity to expand his own influence, particularly eyeing Beijing and Tianjin for their wealth and strategic transportation routes. After the expedition, Chiang Kai-shek, concerned about Feng's growing power, exploited tensions between Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang. He ceded control of Hebei, Beijing, and Tianjin to Yan Xishan, appointing him commander of the Beijing-Tianjin garrison and allowing his 3rd Army to enter Beijing. Feng's 2nd Army, however, was restricted to Nanyuan and denied entry into the city, which greatly displeased Feng. In response, he ordered his troops to retreat to Shandong and Henan, and feigned illness in Xinxiang, Henan, refusing to travel to Beijing. In the political realm Feng Yuxiang advocated for "civilian politics" and stood against dictatorship. Within the Kuomintang, he opposed Chiang Kai-shek's views, calling for the establishment of a clean government, promoting joint industrial development, providing aid to disaster victims, and fighting corruption. He also opposed salary increases for central government officials, argued for distributing leadership roles based on the strength of different factions, and rejected Chiang Kai-shek's dominance over party matters and the Nanjing government. These positions sharply conflicted with Chiang Kai-shek's ideas. After the success of the "Northern Expedition," Chiang Kai-shek proposed a reorganization of the army. This initiative sparked intense conflict between Chiang and Feng Yuxiang. On July 6, 1928, Chiang invited Feng, Yan Xishan, Li Zongren, and Bai Chongxi to a symposium in Beiping. However, Feng and other faction leaders strongly opposed Chiang's plan to reduce the army, leading to an unsatisfactory end to the meeting. On August 8, 1928, Chiang presided over the Fifth Plenary Session of the Kuomintang's Second Central Committee in Nanjing, where he sought to force the various factions to comply with his military reduction plan. Supported by the Guangdong-born members of the Central Committee, the proposal was passed, and the army reduction plan became part of the Kuomintang's official resolution. Feeling threatened by this plan, Feng traveled along the Longhai Railway, inspecting the Northwest Army, and held a commemorative military parade marking the second anniversary of the Northwest Army's Wuyuan Oath-taking Ceremony. In October 1928, after the reorganization of the Nanjing National Government, Chiang appointed Feng as Vice President of the Executive Yuan and Minister of Military Affairs, asking him to report to Nanjing immediately. Feng, however, refused, citing various excuses. Under increasing public pressure, Feng and other faction leaders were eventually forced to attend the demobilization meeting in Nanjing. On December 26, 1928, Chiang chaired a preparatory meeting for the demobilization conference, using factional politics to manipulate and divide his rivals. Feng proposed a "three haves and three demobilizations" plan, which was initially opposed by Yan Xishan and Li Zongren. Secretly, Chiang won over Yan, encouraging him to submit a proposal that would counter Feng's influence. When the National Demobilization Meeting convened on January 1, 1929, most attendees supported Yan's proposal over Feng's. The "Outline of the Procedure for the Demobilization Committee of the National Army" was passed, favoring Chiang's position. Eventually, Feng, Yan, and Li shifted from opposing each other to uniting against the demobilization process. In March 1929, as we saw in last episode, the Chiang-Gui War broke out. In order to concentrate military forces and eliminate the Guangxi clique, Chiang Kai-shek sent Shao Lizi and others to Huashan to win over Feng Yuxiang. They offered Feng the chance to continue cooperating with Chiang and send troops to help Chiang defeat Guangxi in exchange for the premiership of the Executive Yuan and the territory of Hubei and Hunan provinces. Feng agreed to Chiang's request on the surface. He then frequently deployed troops on the border between Henan and Hubei, hoping to seize the opportunity to send troops to occupy Wuhan when Chiang and Guangxi were both defeated. However, Chiang soon defeated the Guangxi clique, which increased Chiang Kai-shek's resentment and made the contradiction between Chiang and Feng irreconcilable. Now that pretty much covers Feng Yuxiang's motivations, but what about Yan Xishan? In January 1930, after Yan Xishan returned to Taiyuan from Zhengzhou, central Henan began to experience increasing turmoil. On February 10, Yan sent a telegram to Chiang Kai-shek, urging a spirit of courtesy for the country's sake that they "share the burden" to resolve party conflicts. Chiang responded on February 12 with a telegram stating, "Revolution to save the country is an obligation, not a right. The country is in dire straits, and it is not the time for us to be arrogant." By February 21, Li Zongren, Huang Shaohong, Bai Chongxi, Zhang Fakui, and Hu Zongduo all stated supported Yan Xishan to be the commander-in-chief of the anti-chiang national army, navy, and air force. In many ways the issue was simply thrust onto him. Meanwhile Yan Xishan's army went to Peiping, current day Beijing, disarming the KMT forces there and setting up a HQ. With perhaps a stronger backing, Chiang Kai-Shek would have gone to war against the anti-chiang cabal much earlier, but was reluctant to do so now. The terrain was the difficulty, he would have to fight his way into Shandong, where the local sympathy rested on Feng Yuxiang. So for now he battled them through the use of diplomacy. Within the chaos, the CCP also managed to cut their own piece of the pie by capturing Changsha in late July. They would only hold the city for a few days however, before burning it down and fleeing. Early into the conflict Chiang Kai-Shek's attention was drawn to Manchuria. The Young Marshal had not made a move in either direction and he was sitting upon an army 200,000 plus strong. Where did his sympathies truly lie, everyone was waiting to see. Chiang Kai-Shek believed chances were slim the Young Marshal would rebel against him, he was not very much like his tiger of a father. Zhang Xueliang was a thinker, an idealistic and most importantly he had been an opium addict for a long time. Such a life conditioned the young man to be a lot more passive. Zhang Xueliang seemed to be looking to pledge himself to a real leader who could deliver salvation to China. But who was the better choice for him? Chiang Kai-Shek or Wang Jingwei? Chiang Kai-Shek did not wait for an official answer to this question he hastily announced that Zhang Xueliang was his new deputy commander in chief. Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan followed this up by offering Zhang Xueliang a place in the Peiping state council, yet Zhang Xueliang remained quiet until the middle of September. It was a real nail bitter for both sides, Zhang Xueliang had a large, decently trained and pretty well armed army, he would tip the tides for either side. The waiting game had Yan Xishan thinking strongly about pulling out of the coalition. In the meantime the war truly began to heat up in May when Chiang Kai-Shek swore a public oath to attack Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang. On May 11th, both sides began engaged another along a north and south front. The main battlefield in the north was centered around Henan with a secondary front in Shandong fought mainly along the Pinghan, Longhai and Jinpu railways. In the southern theater the fighting was fought mainly in the Yuezhou, Changsha and Xiangjiang river areas. To be more specific the anti-Chiang Kai-shek army organized a total of 8 war front areas: the Guangxi clique army was the 1st front, led by Li Zongren, going north from Hunan and heading towards Wuhan; the Northwest Army was the 2nd front, led by Feng Yuxiang, with Lu Zhonglin being responsible for the Longhai and Pinghan lines in Henan; the Shanxi Army was the 3rd front, led by Yan Xishan, with Xu Yongchang responsible for the Jinpu and Jiaoji lines and the eastern section of the Longhai line in Shandong; Shi Yousan's troops were the 4th front; the Northeast Army, which was designated by Zhang Xueliang, was the 5th front though whether he took up the post or not was yet to be seen; Liu Wenhui's troops were the 6th front; He Jian's troops were the 7th front, and Fan Zhongxiu's troops were the 8th front. The Northwest Army and the Shanxi Army, as the main forces, had been fully mobilized and marched to the Longhai, Pinghan, and Jinpu lines. Yan also appointed Shi Yousan as the chairman of Shandong Province, leading his troops to attack Shandong from Henan, and appointed Sun Dianying as the chairman of Anhui Province, attacking the Bozhou area of ​​Anhui. Altogether the Anti-Chiang forces were about 260,000 men strong The fighting kicked off in mid May. The strategy of the anti-Chiang army was for the first front army, the Guangxi army led by Li Zongren to march into Hunan and advance towards Wuhan; the second front army, the Northwestern Army of Feng Yuxiang, was responsible for the Longhai and Pinghan routes in Henan Province, and would attack Xuzhou and Wuhan respectively; the third front army, the Shanxi Army of Yan Xishan was responsible for the operations along the Jinpu and Jiaoji routes in Shandong Province. It would join Feng Yuxiang to attack Xuzhou, then advance southward along the Jinpu Line and attack Nanking; Shi Yousan was in charge of the Fourth Front Army, which would use its main forces to attack Jining and Yanzhou, and would use part of its forces to join the Third Front Army in the attack on Jinan; Zhang Xueliang's Northeast Army was designated as the Fifth Front Army, and efforts were made to jointly fight against Chiang Kai-shek, but again his status was still unknown; Liu Wenhui of Sichuan was appointed as the Sixth Front Army, and He Jian of Hunan was appointed as the Seventh Front Army. In order to encourage generals of non-directly affiliated units, Shi Yousan was appointed as the chairman of Shandong Province, Wan Xuancai as the chairman of Henan Province, and Sun Dianying as the chairman of Anhui Province. After this, Fan Zhongxiu was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Eighth Front Army. Chiang Kai-Shek deployed the NRA 2nd Corps led by Liu Zhi along the Longhai railway line; the 3rd Crops of H Chengjun was deployed on the Pinhan line; the 1st Corps of Han Fuju was deployed along the Jinpu line and Chiang Kai-Shek set up his HQ in Xuzhou to personally command forces. On May 11th, Chiang Kai-Shek issued his general attack orders, with the 2nd corps attacking Guide from Xuzhou. The two sides began clashing, with the KMT gaining the upper hand rather quickly as they held an advantage in air power. A NRA division led by Chen Jicheng occupied Mamuji due east of Guide. Then Liu Maoen defected to Chiang Kai-Shek handing his forces over at Ningling while also luring Colonel Wan Xuancai into a trap. This left Guide to be easily captured by Chiang's forces as the only other enemy division was that of Sun Dianying who withdrew to Bozhou. Although Chiang Kai-Shek had won technically the first major battle, his situation was not at all enviable.  After losing Guide, Yan Xishan urgently reinforced the Longhai Railway line area with divisions led by Yang Yaofang, Sun Laingcheng and Ji Hongchang. This saw Chiang Kai-Sheks forces suffer extremely heavy losses over the course of 10 days of fighting. Chiang Kai-Sheks forces were reeling from the fierce fighting and forced to retreat into the southwestern portion of Shandong. Along the Pinghan railway, Chiang Kai-Shek ordered He Chengjun's 3rd Corps to depart the Yancheng area and attack northwards. The 3rd Corps quickly found themselves fighting the northwest Army in the Linying and Xuchang areas. The 3rd Corps were trying to contain and isolate the northwest army who were currently receiving reinforcements along the Longhai line.  On May 25th, He Jians forces began occupying Linying and by Juny 7th Xuchang. At this time the Guangxi army invaded Hunan and by the 28th of May had taken Yongzhou, Qiyang, Hangzhou and Baoqing. On June 8th they took Changsha and Yueyang, with their vanguard entering Hubei. Feng Yuxiang took advantage of the situation to launch a full scale attack along the Pingham line. After two days of fighting, Chiang Kai-Sheks men were retreating south to Luohe. However, Feng Yuxiang made an error. His subordinates urged him to link up with the Guangxi army and attack Wuhan. Instead he ordered his forces to advance into eastern Henan where he might annihilate a large portion of Chiang Kai-Sheks army. Meanwhile Chiang Kai-Shek had suffered major defeats across the Longhai and Pingham lines and lost the key city of Changsha, his men were demoralized. By mid June Feng Yuxiang adjusted his battle plan and launched another offensive along the Longhai line as Chiang Kai-Shek came to Liuhe to supervise the battle. Chiang Kai-Shek tossed some of his elite divisions equipped with heavy artillery to attack Feng Yuxiang from Qixian to Taikang, hoping to seize Kaifeng and Chenliu. Yet he fell directly into a pocket-sized encirclement and his forces were battered. Over on the Jinpu line front, Yan Xishan had organized 6 divisions and 3 artillery regiments to perform an offensive against Jinan. They advanced south along the Jinpu line and formed two pincers against the city. Han Fuju knew he would lose considerable forces in a defense of the city and ended up simply pulling out to conserve his strength, handing Jinan over.  July brought significant change to the war. Over in Hunan, Chiang Kai-Shek organized 3 armies to counterattack Changsha; a naval fleet under Chen Skaokuan would assist them and he ordered the 8th route army under Jiang Hauangnai and Cai Tingkai to retake Hengyang. The Guangxi army could not focus on two fronts, so they abandoned Yueyang and Changsha to meet the enemy at Hengyang. The two sides fought bitterly in southern Hunan, but by July 4th the Guangxi army was forced to retreat to the province of Guangxi. Afterwards Chiang Kai-Shek's forces took Bozhou within the Longhai/Jinpu triangle area, effectively trapping forces led by Sun Dianying. On July 8th Chiang Kai-Shek diverted a bunch of divisions from the Longhai line to the Jinpu Line. By the end of the month Chiang Kai-Shek unleashed a general offensive along the Jinpu line. Feng Yuxiang retaliated by launching an offensive over the Longhai line trying to seize Xuzhou. Feng Yuxiang hoped by doing so he could unite the Jinpu and Longhai lines for a combined assault of Xuzhou. Chiang Kai-Sheks Longhai forces were quickly pushed back to an area south of Guide, but mother nature tossed a curveball. Colossal amounts of rain caused river floodings, forcing Feng Yuxiangs men to advance through mud greatly diminishing his supply lines. It was enough to give Chiang Kai-Shek time to stabilize the front as his offensive on the Jinpu line successfully recaptured Jinan by August 15th.  On August 21st Chiang Kai-Shek convened a meeting in Jinan where it was decided they would divert forces from the Jinpu line to the Longhai and Pinghan lines. They would focus the most on the Pinghan line while forces on the Longhai line would try to cut off the retreat of Feng Yuxiang's army. Chiang Kai-Shek even offered 200,00 yuan for the first unit to take Gongxian and 1 million yuan for the occupation of Luoyang and Zhengzhou. On September 6th, Chiang Kai-Shek unleashed another general offensive. Feng Yuxiang believed he had the numbers to win, so he deployed his forces pretty evenly over the Pinghan, Longhai and Zhengzhou fronts. He did urge Yan Xishan to try and help him out if his fronts could afford to spare units. Yet Yan Xishan sought to preserve his strength, and moved his Longhai forces to pull back north of the Yellow River. This action made linking up with Feng Yuxiang pretty much impossible. By the 17th Chiang Kai-Shek captured Longmen very close to Luoyang, effectively cutting off Feng Yuxiang's line of retreat heading west. Thus Feng Yuxiang had no choice but to retreat into northern Henan. Taking another sidestep, you may have noticed one of the largest players remains unmentioned, what about the Young Marshal? Back in March, Zhang Xueliang issued a telegram expressing his neutrality. This of course prompted Chiang Kai-Shek to personally call him, whence negotiations began. On June 10th, Li Shi and Zhang Xueliang discussed the conditions for him to send troops to help the NRA out. The first condition was 2 million yuan to cover the cost of deployment. On June 21st the KMT officially appointed Zhang Xueliang as deputy commander. The next day Zhang Xueliang telegramed everyone suggesting that both sides agree to a cease-fire and establish a buffer zone. In August Li Shi came to meet with Zhang Xueliang again, where the Young Marshal then demanded 5 million yuan for military use and a loan of 10 million yuan to stabilize the northeast economy. Chiang Kai-Shek agreed to the terms on the spot. Then Zhang Xueliang said if Chiang Kai-Shek could capture Jinan, he would send troops. As mentioned this occurred on August 15th. Thus Zhang Xueliang began speaking with his generals. Meanwhile on the other side, the Anti-Chiang leadership began establishing a competing government in Peiping in July whereupon they appointed many Fengtian clique members to be the heads of certain departments. Yet on September 2nd, Zhang Xueliang told Fu Zuoyi, a anti-Chiang representative that he did not support their Peiping government. Then Zhang Xueliang recalled all the Fengtian members they had appointed as officials.  Then on September 18th, Zhang Xueliang issued a telegram urging "all parties to stop fighting immediately to relieve the people's suffering and wait for Nanking to take action." At the same time, he dispatched Yu Xuzhong and Wang Shuchang with the 1st and 2nd armies of the Northeast Frontier Defense army to enter the pass. On October 9th, he officially took up office as the deputy commander for the NRA. Yan Xishan soon received word from forces in Tangshan that Zhang Xuliang was advancing, so he called for a meeting to figure out countermeasures. Zhang Xueliang then sent word to Yan Xishan that he should withdraw from occupied areas. Yan Xishan did indeed comply as Zhang Xueliang quickly occupied Ping and Tianjin without firing a shot. To maintain cordial relations with Yan Xishan, Zhang Xueliang had his army only advance into Hubei and Chahar, but left Shanxi alone. This prompted Yan Xishans forces to cross the Yellow River and retreat back into Shanxi using two routes.  Meanwhile a wave of defections to Chiang Kai-Shek began in late September, severely crippling the Pinghan line for Feng Yuxiang. Along the Longhai line, Chiang Kai-Shek's forces took Kaifeng on October 3rd and were advancing towards Zhangzhou. The KMT government then began announcing amnesty for all Generals if they would stand down. The next days many of Feng Yuxiang's subordinates called upon him to issue a ceasefire. Feng Yuxiang was basically screwed, Chiang and Zhang were surrounding him slowly as his own Generals defected or abandoned the cause. On the 5th Feng Yuxiangs deputy commander withdrew to Xinxiang, due north of the Yellow River. The next day Zhengzhou fell to the NRA 11th division of Chen Cheng. On the 5th Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang and Wang Jingwei jointly telegrammed Zhang Xueliang expressing their desire for a ceasefire and to open up negotiations.  By the 15th Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang stepped down together as commanders in chief. Yan Xishan handed command to Xu Yongchang and Feng Yuxiang to Lu Zhonglin. Both men then stated they would go temporarily abroad, though neither truly did. In truth Yan Xishan fled to Dalian under the protection of the Japanese and Feng Yuxiang hid in Yudaohe in Shanxi. That same day Lu Zhonglin telegramed to the Northwest army "withdraw defense immediately upon order inform all injured units to stop fighting and rest the people." On November 4th, Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang telegramed the dissolution of the anti-chiang movement, ending the war. The Central Plains War lasted roughly seven months, with both sides mobilizing more than 1.1 million troops, spending 500 million yuan, and suffering 300,000 casualties. At least half of them were young and middle-aged men from Hebei, Shandong, Henan and other provinces. It was the largest civil war in China after the Northern Expedition to unify China. The war spread to Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Shaanxi, Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi and other provinces. Most of the national troops originally prepared to suppress the Communists were mobilized, allowing the Chinese Communist Party to breathe and develop. Warlords imposed additional donations and taxes on the common people and issued paper money indiscriminately. As usual the ones to suffer the most were of course the common people. Within the Central Plains, 27 counties including Luoyang in Henan Province were severely affected, with agricultural losses amounting to 160.2% of the annual output value; farmers in more than a dozen counties including lost an average of 0.22 heads of livestock and 0.07 carts per household. Within Henan Province, it was said “over 120,000 people died in the war, over 19,500 were injured, over 1,185,000 fled, and over 1,297,700 were forced into exile by the army, of which over 30,000 died in combat, not including soldiers. The total property losses, including the destruction and burning of houses, amounted to over 651,469,000 yuan. It is estimated that it will take 10 years to recover all the losses.” Source in Zhengzhou stated “Since the beginning of the war, planes have been arriving every day, dropping bombs. … Every time a bomb is dropped, five or six people are killed and several buildings are destroyed. This situation is not limited to Zhengzhou. It is the same everywhere in the battlefield cities, the counties and villages near the Longhai and Pinghan railways, even in broad daylight.”  Industry declined and agriculture went bankrupt. The war caused great damage to industrial and agricultural production, seriously hindering the development of the social economy. “The national finances and social economy were both exhausted.” For railway transportation alone saw  “capital losses amounted to 22,165,504 yuan; withdrawals from garrison troops amounted to 4,206,155 yuan; military transport losses amounted to 29,958,042 yuan; and operating losses amounted to 17,018,271 yuan. The total was more than 73 million yuan.Among agricultural products, tobacco leaves were harvested in the three provinces of Henan, Shandong and Anhui, and the war was at its most intense. The losses were between 20 and 30 million yuan. The losses were twice as much as the war expenses.”  Chiang Kai-Shek had won the war, utterly breaking his opponents. Feng Yuxiangs northwest disintegrated into four factions. Yan Xishans Shanxi army took heavy losses that they would not recover from. Zhang Xueliang profited the most, his northeast army gained further territory in North China. He would gradually incorporate a large part of the forces in Shanxi and Suiyuan and would emerge the second largest military faction in China. However, when Zhang Xueliang depleted the northeast of her military forces, this left the borders weak. Zhang Xueliang soon became focused on governing North China, taking his eyes off his powerbase of Manchuria, which Japanese eyes looked upon enviously.  Overall the Central plains war weakened the NRA, the KMT, depleted China of her overall strength and lessened efforts against the CCP. Within the background of the warlord-NRA conflict, the CCP would benefit greatly. The CCP had spread to 11 provinces, including Jiangxi, Hubei, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Henan, Sichuan, Anhui, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang. Their Red Army formed a total of 14 armies with a total of about 100,000 people. But with the Central Plains War ended, now Chiang Kai-Shek could redirect his efforts against the Red Menace.  I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Chiang Kai-Shek had certainly faced a formidable enemy in the former of his past comrades in arms, Feng Yuxiang, Yan Xishan, Li Zongren and many others. At the last minute the Young Marshal saved the day, allowing the Generalissimo to retain control over the new Republic, yet in the background lurked enemies everywhere still.

①President Xi Jinping has urged Fujian province to play a pioneering role in China's modernization drive. (00:40)②Chinese Premier calls for deepening Shanghai Cooperation Organization cooperation. (14:24)③China will introduce a slew of incremental measures to stabilize the property sector. (23:26)④Zelensky presents "victory plan" to Ukrainian parliament. (30:46)⑤An interview with Sir Danny Alexander, Vice President for Policy and Strategy at AIIB (40:14)

Chinese President Xi Jinping has visited the eastern province of Fujian to inspect efforts in rural revitalization, cultural heritage protection, and free trade development.

Last time we spoke about the Guangzhou, Gansu and Red Spear Uprisings. During China's Warlord Era, the CCP faced many challenges as they sought to implement land revolutions and armed uprisings. Following the Nanchang and Autumn Harvest uprisings, the CCP held an emergency meeting criticizing Chen Duxiu for his appeasement of the KMT right wing. With strong encouragement from Soviet advisors, the CCP planned a major uprising to seize control of Guangdong province. In November 1927, the CCP saw an opportunity as petty warlords in Guangdong and Guangxi engaged in conflict. Zhang Fakui's troops, vulnerable and demoralized, were targeted by the CCP. Mobilizing workers and peasants, the CCP initiated the Guangzhou Uprising. The uprising was ultimately suppressed by superior NRA troops, resulting in heavy CCP casualties and brutal reprisals. The failed uprisings, though unable to achieve immediate goals, ignited a persistent revolutionary spirit within the CCP, marking the beginning of a prolonged civil conflict that would shape China's future.   #121 The Sino-Soviet Conflict of 1929 Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. All the way back in 1919, the brand new Soviet government's assistance Commissar of foreign affairs, Lev Karakhan, issued a manifesto to the Beiyang government, promising the return of the Chinese Eastern Railway at zero financial cost. That statement was made in late July and alongside the railway, he also mentioned relinquishing a lot of rights the former Russian Empire had acquired from unequal treaties, such as the Boxer Protocol. This all became known as the Karakhan Manifesto, and it was formed in a time when the Soviets were fighting the Russian Civil War, advancing east into Siberia. In order to secure the war in Siberia the Soviets had to establish good relations with the Chinese. Yet six months after the july manifesto, Karakhan personally handed over a second version of said manifesto, one that did not influence the rather nice deal of handing over the Chinese eastern railway for free. The Soviets official statement was that they had accidentally promised the deal prior. The truth of the matter was some real politik work at play. The Soviets had been trying to secure a Sino-Soviet alliance against the Japanese, but it looked to them it would never come to be so they simply took the deal off the table.  Henceforth the issue cause a lot of friction. In March of 1920 the Fengtian forces disarmed White Russian Troops along the railway and seized control over its operations. In February of 1922 China and the USSR signed a agreement stipulating the Beiyang government would set up a special agency to manage the railway. Then in November the Chinese announced an area within 11 km along the railway would be designated a Eastern Province special district. In December the Soviet Union officially formed and by May the two nations agreed to settle a list of issues. The Soviets agreed to abolish all the unequal treaties formed by the Russian Empire handing over all the leased territories, consular jurisdiction, extraterritoriality, Boxer payments and such, but the Chinese Eastern Railway would be jointly managed by China and the USSR. Now since the railway sat in the area that Zhang Zuolin came to control, in September of 1924 the Soviets signed an agreement with the Fengtian clique. In this agreement, the Soviets lessened the 80 year lease over the railway to 60 years. The Soviets also promised to hand full control to Chinese administrators, but had a trick up their sleeve. The Soviets let the Chinese think they were adding workers and officials loyal to them, in reality the Soviets were creating more jobs on the railway while hiring Soviet workers. In the end the Soviets controlled roughly 67% of the key positions. When Zhang Zuolin went to war with Feng Yuxiang's Guominjun this changed things considerably. In December of 1925, Zhang Zuolin's army owed the Chinese eastern railway some 14 million rubles, prompting the Soviet administrator over the railway, Ivanov to prohibit Zhang Zuolin's army from using it. Fengtian commander Zhang Huanxiang simply arrested Ivanov disregarding his ban. The Soviets then sent an ultimatum to the Beiyang government demanding his release. So Zhang Zuolin ran to the Japanese to mediate. Things smoothed over until 1928 when the Huanggutun incident saw Zhang Zuolin assassinated. As we saw at the end of the northern expedition, his son Zhang Xueliang responded by raising the KMT flag on December 29th of 1928, joining Chiang Kai-Shek. The next day Zhang Xueliang was made commander in chief of the Northeast.  Now Chiang Kai-Shek's government had broken diplomatic relations with the USSR after the Shanghai massacre purge. Thus Zhang Xueliang felt the old treaties signed by his father with the Soviets were null and void and looked upon the Chinese Eastern Railway enviously. To give some context outside of China. At this point in time, the USSR was implementing rural collectivization, ie; the confiscation of land and foodstuffs. This led to wide scale conflict with peasants, famines broke out, I would say the most well known one being the Holodmor in Ukraine. Hundreds of millions of people starved to death. The USSR was also still not being recognized by many western powers. Thus from the perspective of Zhang Xueliang, it looked like the USSR were fraught with internal and external difficulties, they had pretty much no friends, so taking the railway would probably be a walk in the park.  Zhang Xueliang began diplomatically, but negotiations were going nowhere, so he got tougher. He ordered his officials to take back control over the Chinese Eastern Railway zone police, municipal administration, taxation, land, everything. He instructed Zhang Jinghui, the governor of Harbin's special administrative zone to dispatch military police to search the Soviet embassy in Harbin and arrest the consul general. Zhang Jinghui did so and closed the Soviet consulates in Harbin, Qiqihar and Hailar. All of this of course pissed off the Soviets who responded by protesting the new Nanjing government, demanding the release of their people, while increasing troops to the border of Manchuria. The Soviets announced they were willing to reduce their control over the railway as a concession. This entire situation became known as the May 27th incident and unleashed a tit for tat situation. On July 13th, the Soviets sent an ultimatum giving three days for a response "If a satisfactory answer is not obtained, the Soviet government will be forced to resort to other means to defend all the rights of the Soviet Union." On the 17th the Soviets recalled their officials, cut off the railway traffic between China and the USSR, ejected Chinese envoys from the USSR and cut off diplomatic relations with China. In the background Joseph Stalin was initially hesitating to perform any military actions, not wanting to antagonize the Japanese in Manchuria. However the Soviet consul in Tokyo, sent back word that Japan was completely willing to stay out of any conflict if the Soviets limited it to just northern Manchuria. Thus Stalin decided to act. On August 6th, Stalin formed the Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army under the command of General Vasily Blyukher. It was composed of three infantry divisions; the 1st Pacific Infantry Division, the 2nd Amur Infantry Division, and the 35th Trans-Baikal Infantry Division), one cavalry brigade (the 5th Kuban Cavalry Brigade), and the addition of the Buryat Mongolian Independent Cavalry Battalion. The total force was said to be as many as 30,000 with their headquarters located in Khabarovsk. Blyukher also had the support of the Far Eastern Fleet, roughly 14 shallow water heavy gunboats, a minesweeper detachment, an aviation detachment with 14 aircraft, and a marine battalion commanded by Yakov Ozolin. Blyukher had served during the civil war and was a military advisor in China attached to Chiang Kai-SHek's HQ. He had a large hand to play in the northern expedition, and was one of the select Soviets Chiang Kai-Shek intentionally made sure got home safe during the purge. Blyukher would exercises a unusual amount of autonomy with his far east command, based out of Khabarovsk. For the upcoming operation a 5th of the entire Red Army was mobilized to assist. On the other side Zhang Xueliang mobilized as many troops as he could, including many White Russians hiding out in Manchuria. His total strength on paper was 270,000, but only 100,000 would be actively facing the Soviets as the rest were needed to maintain public order and to defend southern Manchuria. The person in charge of the Eastern Line of the Chinese Eastern Railway was the brigade commander of the Jilin Army, Ding Chao, and the western line was the brigade commander of the Heilongjiang Army, Liang Zhongjia, and the chief of staff was Zhang Wenqing. Wang Shuchang led the First Army to guard the eastern line, and Hu Yukun led the Second Army to guard the western line. The Soviet army also had a quality advantage in equipment. In terms of artillery, the Soviet army had about 200 artillery pieces, including more than a dozen heavy artillery pieces, while the Chinese army had only 135 infantry artillery pieces and no heavy artillery. At the same time, the Soviet army also had a quality advantage in machine guns because it was equipped with 294 heavy machine guns and 268 highly mobile light machine guns. The Chinese army was equipped with only 99 heavy machine guns. In terms of air force, the Chinese army had 5 aircraft that were combat effective. On July 26th the Soviets bombarded Manzhouli from three directions along the western end of the Chinese Eastern Railway. Two days later a Soviet infantry regiment, 3 armored vehicles and 4 artillery pieces advanced to Shibali station, cutting the lines to Manzhouli. They then ordered the Chinese military and police to withdraw as they captured Manzhouli. Then on the 29th the began bombarding Dangbi. On August 8th, 100 Soviet troops carrying two artillery pieces and 3 machine guns engaged Chinese forces outside the south gate of Oupu County street, casualties were heavy for both sides. 5 Soviet aircraft circled over Suifenhe City firing 200 rounds and dropping bombs over the Dongshan Army defense post and Sandaodongzi. The next day 40 Soviet soldiers established two checkpoints at Guzhan blocking traffic and they even began kidnapping civilians. That same day 300 Soviet soldiers and two gunboats occupied the Hujiazhao factory. On the 12th, Sanjianfang, Zhongxing and Lijia's Oil Mill were occupied by over 2000 Soviet troops. Meanwhile 80 Soviets amphibiously assaulted Liuhetun using 8 small boats, killing its defenders before returning to the other side. The next day two Soviet gunboats, 300 marines and 2 aircraft attacked Suidong county in Heilongjiang province while another force attacked Oupu county with artillery. On the morning of the 14th both counties fell. In response the Nanjing government dispatched Liu Guang, the chief of the military department to inspect the Northeast front. On the 15th Zhang Xueliang issued mobilization orders against the USSR, seeing his standing front line forces bolstered to 100,000. On the 15th the foreign minister of the Nanjing government, Wang Zhengting reported to Chiang Kai-Shek negotiations were going nowhere, the Soviets were adamant about getting their rights returned over the Chinese Eastern Railways. The next day, Wang Zhenting told reporters that if the Soviets attacked anymore China would declare war. The next day Zhang Xueliang was interviewed by the Chicago Daily News and had this to say. "The Soviet Union disregarded international trust, trampled on the non-war pact, and rashly sent troops to invade our country. We respect the non-war pact and have repeatedly made concessions to show our responsibility for provoking the provocation. If the Russian side continues to advance, we will be willing to be the leader of the war, so we have prepared everything and will do our best to fight to the death."  On the 16th two Soviet infantry companies and one cavalry company attacked Zhalannur from Abagaitu along the border. The two sides fought for 2 hours until the Soviets stormed the Zhalannur station. After another 5 hours of combat the Soviets pulled back over the border. By this point enough was enough. China declared war on August 17th escalating what was an incident around the Chinese Eastern Railway zone into a full blown war.  Blyukher had developed a plan for an offensive consisting of two rapid operations. The first would be against the Chinese naval forces and the second against the ground forces via a large encirclement. After the war was declared on the 17th, the Soviet Army advanced into Manchuria from the western end of the Chinese Eastern Railway. The Red Banner Special Far Eastern Army initially dispatched a total of 6,091 infantrymen and 1,599 artillerymen in front of Manchuria, equipped with 88 artillery pieces of 76.2 mm or above, excluding artillery belonging to infantry regiments, 32 combat aircraft, 3 armored trains, and 9 T-18 light tanks . The army units included: the 35th and 36th Infantry Divisions of the 18th Infantry Army; the 5th Cavalry Brigade; the Buryat Mongolian Cavalry Battalion; an independent tank company equipped with T-18 tanks, the 6th Aviation Detachment, the 25th Aviation Detachment, the 26th Bomber Squadron, the 18th Army Artillery Battalion, the 18th Engineering Battalion, and a Railway Battalion.  The first battle broke out around Manzhouli. Liang Zhongjia, the brigade commander stationed in Manzhouli, reported this to his superiors of the engagement “of the battle situation, the 38th and 43rd regiments under my command fought with a regiment of Soviet infantry and cavalry for 4 hours in the afternoon and are still in a standoff. The Soviet army has more than one division of troops near Abagaitu”. At 10:30 p.m. on the 18th, the Soviets began to attack the positions of the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 43rd Regiment of the Northeastern Army in Zhalannur. At 1 p.m. on August 19, the Soviets added about 600 to 700 troops opposite the positions of the 43rd Regiment of Zhalannur. At 5 a.m the Soviets dispatched five aircraft from Abagaitu to Shibali Station. On the 19th, the Soviets captured Suibin County with ease. At 6 a.m. on the 20th, the Soviets used armored trains to transport more than 200 troops to attack the 10th Cavalry Regiment of Liang Zhongjia's troops. After fighting for about an hour, the Soviets retreated. On the 23rd a battle broke out in Mishan and on the 25th 400 Soviet cavalry began building fortifications roughly a kilometer near the Chinese 43rd regiment at Zhalannur. Zhang Xueliang spoke again to the Chinese and foreign press on the 25th stating this. "Foreigners have many misunderstandings about the Eastern Province's actions this time, thinking that it is to take back the Eastern Route and violate the treaty. In fact, we have no intention of violating the 1924 Sino-Russian Agreement or the Agreement with Russia, because China has signed it and has no intention of violating it. China has no intention of taking back the route at all. What it wants is to remove the Russian personnel who are involved in the communist movement. Moreover, in this matter, the Eastern Route is a very small issue. The real point is that the Russians use China as a base for communism, and we have to take measures in self-defense." Between the 28th to the 30th an intense battle broke out at Wangqing.  On the 31st, Soviet gunboats bombarded three garrisons around  Heihe. On September 4th, the Soviet army bombarded the right wing of the 43rd and 38th Regiments stationed in Lannur. At 4 pm on the 9th, a single regiment of the Soviet army, under the cover of artillery, launched a fierce attack on the Chinese army at Manzhouli Station from the Shibali Station, but by 8:30 pm, they pulled back. At 4 pm, 8 Soviet aircraft bombed Suifenhe Station, causing over 50 Chinese casualties and injured a regimental commander. On the night of the 16th, more than 100 Soviet troops attacked the Kukdoboka checkpoint in Lubin County and burned down the checkpoint. On the 18th, the Soviet government announced to the ambassadors of various countries that they had always advocated for a peaceful solution to the issue of the Chinese Eastern Railway, while China's attitude was hypocritical and insincere. It was believed that future negotiations were hopeless, and all previous negotiations mediated by Germany were terminated. From now on, they stated quote “the Soviet Union would not bear any responsibility for any ominous incidents caused on the Sino-Russian border”. With negotiations completely broken down, Blyukher was given the greenlight to launch a fatal blow.  On October 2, more than a thousand Soviet infantryman, supported by aircraft and artillery stormed the positions of the 3rd Battalion of the 38th Regiment in Manzhouli. The two sides fought until the morning of the 3rd. On the 4th Zhang Xueiliang drafted the “national volunteer army organization regulations letter” trying to embolden the population stating "when the foreigners invade the border, the first thing to do is to resist. All citizens or groups who are willing to sacrifice their lives for the country on the battlefield will be volunteers or volunteer soldiers." The new regulations stipulated that volunteers of this new group would be named as the National Volunteer Army. On October the 10th, 30,000 Soviet forces on the Baikal side advanced through the northeastern border of China. At this time, the brigade responsible for defending Liang Zhongjia had been fighting with the Soviet troops for dozens of days. There was no backup and they were in urgent need of help. According to Chinese observations, the Soviets deployed nearly 80,000 troops by land, sea and air on the Sino-Soviet border. Along the eastern front, the Soviets capture in succession Sanjiangkou, Tongjiang and Fujin. Meanwhile at 5am on the 12th the Far Eastern Fleet commanded engaged in a firefight with the Songhua River Defense Fleet, near Sanjiangkou. According to Chinese reconnaissance, the Soviet warships participating in the battle included: the flagship "Sverdlov" a shallow-water heavy gunboat led by Sgassk, the shallow-water heavy gunboat "Sun Yat-sen", the shallow-water heavy gunboat "Red East", the shallow-water heavy gunboat "Lenin", the inland gunboat "Red Flag", and the inland gunboat "Proletariat", with a total of 4 152mm cannons, 26 120mm cannons, 6 85mm anti-aircraft guns, 8 37mm anti-aircraft guns, and more than ten aircraft for support. The Chinese forces were led by Yin Zuogan who commanded six shallow-water gunboats, including the "Lijie" (flagship), "Lisui", "Jiangping", "Jiang'an", and "Jiangtai", and the "Dongyi" armed barge as a towed artillery platform. Except for the "Jiangheng" of 550 tons and the "Liji" of 360 tons, the rest were all below 200 tons, and the entire fleet had 5 120mm guns. In the ensuing battle the Jiangping, Jiang'an, Jiangtai, Lijie, and Dongyi, were sunk, and the Lisui ship was seriously injured and forced to flee back to Fujin.The Chinese side claimed that they damaged two Soviet ships, sunk one, and shot down two fighter planes; but according to Soviet records, five Soviet soldiers were killed and 24 were injured.  At the same time as the naval battle around Sanjiangkou, two Soviet gunboats covered four armed ships, the Labor, Karl Marx, Mark Varyakin, and Pavel Zhuravlev, carrying a battalion of more than 400 people from the 2nd Infantry Division Volochaev Regiment, landing about 5 kilometers east of Tongjiang County and attacking the Chinese military station there. The Northeast Marine Battalion guarding the area and the Meng Zhaolin Battalion of the 9th Army Brigade jointly resisted and repelled the Soviet's initial attack. The Chinese suffered heavy losses, with more than 500 officers and soldiers killed and wounded, and more than 70 people including the Marine Battalion Captain Li Runqing captured.  On the 14th, the Chinese sank 6 tugboats, 2 merchant ships and 2 warships in the waterway 14 kilometers downstream of Fujin, forming a blockade line; and set up solid artillery positions and a 13-kilometer-long bunker line nearby, destroying all bridges on the road from Tongjiang to Fujin. A battle broke out at Tongjiang and according to the the report of Shen Honglie “the Northeast Navy suffered more than 500 casualties (including marines), 4 warships were sunk, 1 was seriously damaged, and the "Haijun" gunboat (45 tons) was captured by the Soviet army and renamed "Pobieda"; 17 officers including the battalion commander Meng Zhaolin and 350 soldiers of the army were killed; the Chinese side announced that 2 Soviet planes were shot down (some sources say 1), 3 Soviet warships were sunk, 4 were damaged, and more than 300 casualties”. On the 18th, the Soviets completely withdrew from the Tongjiang, allowing the two regiments of Lu Yongcai and Zhang Zuochen of the 9th Brigade to recapture it. On the 30th, Admiral Ozolin led some Soviet land forces in a major attack in the Fujian area. He organized the troops under his jurisdiction into two groups. He led the first group personally, who were supported by heavy gunboats Red East, Sun Yat-Sen and gunboats Red Flag, Proletarian, Buryat, minelayer Powerful and the armored boat Bars. Their mission was to annihilate the remnants of the river defense fleet anchored in Fujin. The second group was commanded by Onufryev, the commander of the Soviet 2nd infantry division. His group consisted of the shallow-water heavy gunboat Serdlov, gunboat Pauper and the transport fleets steam carrying the Volochaev Regiment and the 5th Amur regiment who landed at Fujin.  On the other side the Chinese had concentrated two infantry brigades, 3 cavalry regiments and a team of police with the support of the gunboats Jiangheng,  Lisui, Liji and the tugboat Lichuan. At 9 am on the 31st, the 7 Soviet ships suddenly destroyed the river blocking ropes and entered the Fujin River bank, bombarding the Chinese army, as cavalry landed. The Chinese ships "Lisui" and "Lichuan" sank successively, and only the "Jiangheng" managed to participate in the battle, but soon sank after firing only three shots. At 7 pm 21 Soviet ships sailed up the Songhua River, as part of the cavalry landed at Tuziyuan, advancing step by step towards Fujin. At 9 pm 7 Soviet ships approached the Fujin River bank, with roughly 700 infantry, cavalry and artillery soldiers of the 2nd Amur Infantry Division landed. The Chinese army collapsed without a fight, retreating to Huachuan, and by11am, Fujin county was occupied. Chinese sources reported “the Soviet army burned down the civil and military institutions separately and destroyed all the communication institutions. They distributed all the flour from the Jinchang Fire Mill to the poor, and plundered all the weapons, ammunition and military supplies." On the evening of November 1, the Soviet infantry, cavalry and artillery withdrew from the east gate. On the morning of the 2nd, the Soviet ships withdrew one after another. According to Soviet records, nearly 300 Chinese soldiers were killed in this battle, with thousands captured, while the Soviet army only lost 3 people and injured 11 people . The Chinese Songhua River fleet was completely destroyed, and 9 merchant ships were captured. In early November, the weather in the north became freezing cold, leading the rivers to freeze. Soviet warships retreated back to Khabarovsk, and their infantry and cavalry also returned by land. The war on the Eastern Front was basically over.  As for the western front, the main battlefields revolved around Manzhouli and Zhalannur. Since August 1929, conflicts here continued, a lot of back and forth stuff. The soviets would storm the areas and pull out. Yet in November, the war in the west escalated.  The commander of the Soviet Trans-Baikal Group, was Stepan Vostrezov, wielding the 21st, 35th and 36th infantry divisions, the 5th Cavalry Brigade, 331 heavy machine guns, 166 light machine guns, 32 combat aircraft, 3 armored trains, 58 light artillery, 30 heavy artillery, 9 T-18 ultra-light tanks, amongst other tanks. The Chinese side had about 16,000 people. There would be three major battles : the Battle of Zhallanur, the Battle of Manzhouli, and the Battle of Hailar. On November the 16th, the Soviets unleashed a large-scale offensive, tossing  nearly 40,000 troops, 400 artillery pieces, 40 tanks and 30 aircraft against the western front. At 11pm the Soviets crossed over the border. At 3am on the 17th the 5th Kuban Cavalry Brigade set out from Abagaitui, followed by the 35th Infantry Division who crossed the frozen surface of the Argun River, hooking around the rear of the Chinese garrison in Zhalannur along the east bank of the Argun River. At 7am Soviet aircraft began bombing the western front. The Chinese garrison headquarters, tram house, 38th Regiment building, and military police station were all bombed, and the radio station was also damaged. At noon, the Binzhou Railway was cut off 10-12 kilometers east of the city, and Zhalannur was attacked. Supported by 8 T-18 tanks and fighter planes, they attacked Zhalannur several times. On the morning of the 18th, the Soviet 5th Cavalry Brigade launched an attack against the 7,000-man 17th Brigade of the Chinese Army guarding Zhalannur. At 1pm on the 18th the Zhalannur Station and the Coal Mine was occupied by the Soviet army. The Chinese defenders, Brigadier Han Guangdi and Commander Zhang Linyu, were killed in action. More than half of the brigade officers and soldiers were killed and more than a thousand were captured. After capturing Zhalannur the Soviets concentrated their forces against Manzhouli. On the 19th, 7 T-18s supported the 108th Infantry Regiment of the Soviet 36th Division to attack Manzhouli from the east and west. Artillery pounded the city, before it was stormed. The 15th Brigade of the Chinese Army guarding the area was quickly surrounded by the Soviet army. Brigade Commander Liang Zhongjia and Chief of Staff Zhang Wenqing, alongside nearly 250 officers, fled to the Japanese consulate and surrendered to the Soviet army on the 20th. According to Soviet records, in the battles of Zhalannur and Manzhouli, over 1,500 Chinese soldiers were killed and more than 9,000 were captured, while the Soviet side lost 143 people, 665 were wounded and 4 were missing. Additionally 30 Chinese artillery pieces and 2 armored trains were captured by the Soviet army. The Soviets claimed that Chinese troops from Lake Khinkai were attacking Iman, modern day Dalnerechensk. In the name of self-defense, the Soviets began bombing Mishan on November 17 and mobilized  the Soviet Primorsky State Army and the 1st Pacific Rifle Infantry Division. The 1st Pacific Division and the 9th Independent Cavalry Brigade advanced towards Mishan, 40 kilometers from the border. Soviet records showed that during this battle the Chinese army suffered more than 1,500 casualties and 135 prisoners. The Soviets seized 6 machine guns, 6 mortars, 500 horses, 6 mortars, 200 horses and a large number of confidential documents. On November 23rd, 12 Soviet aircraft bombed Hailar, before capturing the city the next day.  By late November the Chinese had suffered something in the ballpark of 10,000 casualties along various fronts and an enormous amount of their equipment was taken by the Soviets. The Chinese officially reported 2000 deaths, 1000 wounded with more than 8000 captured. The Soviets reported 812 deaths, 665 wounded with under 100 missing. The Japanese had actually been quite the thorn for the Chinese during the war. They had intentionally barred Chinese forces from advancing north through their South Manchurian Railway zone, a large hindrance. Likewise the Kwantung army stationed in Liaoning were mobilizing, giving the impression they would exploit the situation at any moment.  In the face of quite a catastrophic and clear defeat, Nanjing's ministry of foreign affairs tossed a cease fire demand asking for foreign mediation. By December 3rd, Britain, France and the US asked both sides to stop the war so they could mediate a peace. The USSR rejected the participation of a third nation and suggested they could negotiate with China mono e mono. Zhang Xueliang accepted the proposal, dispatching Cai Yunsheng quickly to Shuangchengzi who signed an armistice with the Soviet representative Smanovsky. On the 16th real negotiations began and on the 22nd a draft agreement was signed. The draft stipulated both nations would re-cooperate over the Chinese Eastern Railway and that the Red Army would pull out of Manchuria as soon as both sides exchanged prisoners and officials. Thus the entire incident was resolved after humiliating China. While this all seemed completely needless, perhaps not significant, don't forget, the Japanese were watching it all happen in real time, taking notes, because they had their own ideas about Manchuria.  I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. And so the Soviets and brand new Nationalist Republic of China went to war over, honestly a petty squabble involving railway rights and earnings. It was a drop in the bucket for such a war torn nation and only further embarrassed it on the world stage. Yet the Soviets might not be the foreign nation China should be looking out for. 

Last time we spoke about the beginning of the Chinese Civil War. By early 1927, Chiang Kai-Shek had assembled a team of right-wing KMT members and anti-communist allies like Dai Jitao and Wu Tiecheng, strategizing to sever ties with the Soviet Union and garner support from local gentry, merchants, and international diplomats. Despite publicly maintaining a façade of supporting the Soviet alliance, Chiang Kai-Shek was secretly preparing an anti-communist campaign. The turning point came on April 12, 1927, when Chiang's forces, with the help of the Green Gang, launched a brutal attack on CCP members and workers in Shanghai, marking the beginning of the Shanghai Massacre. This violent crackdown spread across the country, leading to the collapse of the first united front between the KMT and CCP. In the aftermath, the CCP called for mobilization against the KMT, sparking further conflicts such as the Wuhan-Nanjing war and the Nanchang Uprising. Key CCP leaders like He Long and Zhou Enlai emerged during this period, setting the stage for the next phase of the Chinese Civil War.   #119 The Nanchang & Autumn Harvest Uprisings Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. We left off in the midst of the Nanchang uprising. On August the 1st the CCP 2nd front army had successfully inflicted 3000 casualties and captured more than 5000 small arms of various types, 700,000 rounds of ammunition and a few cannons. With more and more CCP aligned units arriving the army needed to be reorganized. It was decided the uprising army would continue to use the designation of 2nd front army of the NRA with He Long serving as its commander in chief and Ye Ting as his deputy. Ye Ting would also command the 11th army consisting of the 24th, 25th and 10th divisions, Nie Rongzhen would be his CCP party representative; He Long would command the 20th Army consisting of the 1st and 2nd divisions with Liao Qianwu as his CCP party representative. Zhou Enlai with Zhu De as his deputy would lead the 9th army with Zhu Kejing as his CCP party representative. Altogether they were 20,000 strong and now very well armed.  On August 2nd, tens of thousands of people gathered in Nanchang to celebrate the great victory and the establishment of the revolutionary committee. This drew a large number of new recruits, particularly young students. Upon hearing the news of the uprising, Wang Jingwei urgently dispatched Zhang Fakui and Zhu Peide to quell the uprisers. On August the 3rd in accordance with orders from the CCP Central Committee the 2nd front army withdrew from Nanchang heading south along the Fu River. This withdrawal became known as the “little long march”. They planned to enter Guangdong province via Ruijin and Xunwu where they would first occupy Dongjiang. They hoped there they could develop further forces, perhaps gain foreign aid and if all went spectacularly capture Guangzhou. Upon entering Jinxian county, the commander of the 10th Division, Cai Tingkai expelled the communists from his ranks and instead took his division northeast into Jiangxi leaving the movement. A large reason he was able to pull this off was because the 2nd front army had been too hastily reorganized. The troops rushed into new formations and left Nanchang far too fast. The conditions of their march were also rough, it was a scorching hot week. By the time they made it to Linchuan on August 7th, they now numbered 13,000.  They rested in Linchuan for 3 days then continued advancing southwards. On August 25th, their vanguard reach Rentian of Ruijin county. Li Jishen the commander of the NRA 8th route army was stationed in Guangdong. Li Jishen dispatched 9000 troops led by Qian Dajun from Ganzhou over to Huichang and around Ruijin to block the advance of the Reds. He also transferred 9000 troops led by Huang Shaohongs army based in Nanxiong and Dayu over to Yudu to support Qian Dajun. The CCP Front Committee took advantage of the fact Qian and Huang's armies were not yet fully concentrated in the area, unleashing a one by one attack. On the 26th the Red's attacked Rentians defenders, routing them and capturing Ruijin county. They then concentrated their forces to attack the main portion of Qian Dajun's army in Huichang. After a fierce 4 day battle they managed to capture Huichang county. The Red's reported inflicting over 6000 casualties upon Qian Dajun's army and capturing over 2500 guns while suffering 2000 casualties. Then in early September the Reds repelled an attack by Huang Shaohongs forces near Luokou just due northwest of Huichang. Having survived the encounter, the Reds withdrew to Ruijin, one unit after another, then they changed their route to head east, passing through Changting and Shanghang in Fujian province. From there they headed south along the Tingjiang River and Hanjiang river. On the 22nd, the 25th Division of the 11th Army occupied Sanheba in Dapu county of Guangdong province. Meanwhile the main force continued southwards and occupied Chao'an and Shantou by the 23rd. During this period Li Jishen ordered the remnants of Qian Dajun's army to try and contain the 25th Division and Huang Shaohongs army to attack Chao'an via Fengshun. He also dispatched Chen Jitang and Xue Yue with 3 divisions, roughly 15,000 men from the East Route to advance eastwards from Heyuan hoping to force a decisive battle. By the way for Pacific War fans, Xue Yue will become one of China's greatest Generals. Just a little bit about him. He was born to a peasant family in Xiaopingshi village of Guangdong in 1896. In 1907 he entered the Huangpu military primary school and two years later he joined the Tongmenghui. In 1917 he was admitted to the 6th class of the Baoding Military academy. The next year however he departed in July to join Dr Sun Yat-Sen and Chen Jiongming's new army in Guangzhou. He entered their army as a captain following the army into Fujian where he helped capture over 20 counties centered around Zhangzhou. In 1920 he help attack the Guangxi army of Cen Chunxuan where the commander of the 1st division, Deng Keng, appointed him as a major commanding a machine gun company. The following year the machine gun company expanded into a battalion. In 1921 Deng Keng ordered a personal guard to be formed to protect Dr Sun Yat-Sen, with Xue Yue, Ye Ting and Zhang Fakui as the commanders of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd battalions.  In March of 1922 when Chen Jiongming went to war with Dr Sun Yat-Sen, Xue Yue escorted his family to Guangzhou. There he defended the presidential palace where a 10 hour battle emerged nearly seeing Dr Sun Yat-Sen killed. Xue Yue and some of his men got Dr Sun Yat-Sen and his family away to safety as he led a campaign to quell Chen Jiongmings rebellion. As Chiang Kai-Shek led troops to attack Chen Jiongming, Xue Yue was appointed major general adjutant and chief of staff of the 1st division of the Guangdong army. In 1925 he served as deputy commander of the 14th division of the 1st NRA Army. During the campaign heading east, Xue Yue proved himself a brilliant commander, enough so to receive personal praise from Chiang Kai-Shek via telegram. During the Northern Expedition Xue Yue helped capture Jiangxi, Changsha, Liuyang and Nanchang. He was promoted to commander of the 1st division as the NRA invaded Zhejiang and led men to capture Hangzhou, Nanjing and Shanghai. However after the Shanghai massacre, Xue Yue made the rather poor decision of publicly calling for Chiang Kai-Shek to be arrested for being a counterrevolutionary. He was quickly purged from the 1st Army, fled for Guangdong where he found a new post as a divisional commander under Li Jishen. Back to our story, the CCP Front Committee decided to establish a 3rd division of the 20th army and stationed them at Chaoshan. Thus there 6500 men were positioned to meet the enemy's advance. On September 28th the main bulk of the Red army encountered the East Route Army near Shanhu in Jieyang county. The Reds managed to defeat them and marched upon Tangkeng where they fought a fierce battle near Fenshui village, a monument to that battle exists there to this day. By the 30th, the Reds had suffered another 2000 casualties and were unable to put up much of a fight so they pulled back to Jieyang. That night Huang Shaohongs men recaptured Chao'an.  On October 3rd the Red army evacuated Chaoshan and advanced to Haifeng, passing through the Lianhua Mountain. However enroute they were intercepted by the East Route Army, leading to a bloody battle where they were broken badly. Units and commanders dispersed, with one large force of 1300 making it to Haifeng. The Reds had suffered a disastrous and decisive defeat with only over a 1000 troops remaining as a complete unit, who would later reform into a regiment. Zhu De and Chen Yi faked their names and sought refuge amongst a local Hunanese warlord. Starting basically from scratch they turned their little force into a 10,000 strong army who would go on to fight in the border areas of Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangxi and Hunan, managing to save 800 Reds who were simultaneously performing an uprising in southern Hunan.  Countless were arrested, deserted or went into exile. Zhou Enlai, Ye Jianying and Ye Ting lost contact with the others and fled to British Hong Kong, with Zhou Enlai becoming seriously ill. The three had two pistols with them and were successful in reaching Hong Kong. Nie Rongzhen, the other communist leader, also successfully escaped to Hong Kong. He Long who had strongly opposed the little long march plan, accurately pointed out that marching 1000 miles in the blazing heat of summer would put too much strain on the troops and that the Hunan would have been a better place to set up shop rather than Guangdong. He Long simply took up and went home, demoted from his position as commander. It is said he became a beggar and was not well received by his family. Yet he would rise back up and lead a 3000 man strong Red Force who would later be wiped out by the KMT. By April of 1928 these forces would contribute to the Autumn Harvest Uprising, something we will talk about later. The Nanchang Uprising saw the first shots in armed resistance against the KMT. It was also when the CCP officially declared their firm stance against the KMT and marked the beginning of their journey to create their own military. Within the vacuum of hundreds of smaller uprisings, the Nanchang Uprising alongside two other events we will talk about, the Guangzhou Uprising and Autumn Harvest Uprising are the three more important uprisings during this period of time.  Back on August 7th, the CCP Central Committee held an emergency meeting in Hankou known as the “August 7th Meeting”. Here they abandoned Chen Duxiu's right-wing appeasement strategy and determined a new policy that would involve implementing land revolution and armed uprisings. They called upon the entire party and people of China to resist the KMT. This saw widespread uprisings spring up all over the place. One of their largest campaigns was referred to as the Autumn Harvest Uprising, which would be performed in Hunan, Hubei, Guangdong and Jiangxi where the foundation of the workers and peasants movement was the highest. A lot was debated about how to perform such a campaign. Many called for making the peasant association the center of it by declaring them a type of local government, whence they the CCP would seize all of the power from them. In addition to seizing rural power, they needed the backing of urban workers and the poor. Many pointed out the Autumn Harvest Uprising like the Nanchang Uprising should have the main purpose of launching a land revolution. It would be optimal of it was launched simultaneously in Hunan centered around Hengyang, Changsha and if possible at Baoqing.  After their August 7th conference the CCP Central Committee sent one Mao Zedong and Peng Gongda, at the time alternate members of the Provisional Political Bureau to Hunan to reorganize the Hunan Provincial committee. For the Autumn Harvest Uprising Mao Zedong was appointed the Central Special Commissioner with Peng Gongda as Secretary of the Provincial Committee. Now we haven't spoken about Mao Zedong in some time. I think the last time we left off about him was with the founding of the CCP party. In 1921 alongside those like Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao, he too was a founder and he began setting up a branch of the CCP in Changsha. Within Hunan he also established a branch of the Socialist Youth Corps and Cultural Book Society, who opened a bookstore to spread communist literature throughout the province. During the warlord era, Mao Zedong was involved in the struggle for Hunan autonomy. Mao Zedong hoped a Hunanese constitution might increase civil liberties, thus making his work to cause a communist revolution easier. The movement was successful at establishing a provincial autonomy under a Hunanese warlord, but Mao Zedong would find that not quite optimal. By that same year of 1921, communist groups had sprung up in Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Jinan and Changsha, and on July 23rd it was decided to form a central meeting. The first session of the national congress of the CCP was in Shanghai, attended by 13 delegates, one being Mao Zedong. However, undercover police infiltrated the congress, forcing the delegates to hop on a boat near Jiaxing in Zhejiang to escape. Although Soviet and CCP delegates attended the first congress pretty much ignored Lenin's advice to temporarily accept an alliance between them and the bourgeois democrats who were also espousing a national revolution, ie: the KMT. Instead many in the CCP sought to stick strictly to the Marxist belief only an urban proletariat could cause a real communist revolution. At that point Mao Zedong was the party secretary for Hunan, working out of Changsha. In August he founded the “self study university” where readers could gain access to revolutionary literature. He also joined the YMCA Mass Education Movement to combat illiteracy, though it should be noted he had a huge habit of editing textbooks to fit his communist ideals.  He continuously organized worker strikes, particularly against the warlord governor of Hunan, Zhao Hengti. Some of these successful strikes were the Anyuan coal mine strikes, which saw both bourgeois and proletarian methodology incorporated. Mao Zedong had mobilized many walks of life, miners, gentry, military officials, merchants, Triads and even members of the Church. His work in the Anyuan mines also involved his wife Yang Kaihui who was fighting for women's rights. She sought to increase women's literacy, education and political power within peasant communities. Mao Zedong and Yang Kaihui were not irregular in advocating for women's rights amongst the communist leaders, but they would be some of the most effective. Because of Mao Zedong's success in the Anyuan mines, Chen Duxiu invited him to become a member of the CCP Central Committee. Mao Zedong failed to make it to the second congress of the CCP in Shanghai, held in July of 1922, with the excuse he lost the address. There the CCP delegates agreed to forming the first united front. Mao Zedong enthusiastically agreed to this decision, arguing for an alliance across China's socio-economic classes. Mao Zedong's work in the first united front would see him become the chief of propaganda for the KMT. Mao Zedong was a vocal anti-imperialist with a lot of his writing directed against the governments of the UK, US and Japan. At the third congress of the CCP in Shanghai in June of 1923, the delegates reaffirmed their commitment to the first united front. Here Mao Zedong was elected to the Party Committee and took up residence in Shanghai. At the first KMT congress held in Guangzhou in 1924, Mao Zedong was elected as an alternate member of the KMT Central Executive Committee where he would put forward resolutions to decentralize power to the urban and rural bureaus. His enthusiastic support for the KMT would earn him suspicion from colleagues such as Li Lisan who had worked closely with him in Hunan. After the KMT congress he went to Shaoshan where he found the peasants were becoming increasingly restless. Many had seized land and wealth from local landowners. This convinced Mao Zedong that peasants were an effective revolutionary force, something the KMT leftists were proposing, but not the CCP at the time. Later Mao Zedong would be one of many in the CCP calling for an end to the first united front in the face of major grievances. However Borodin continuously advised not to break off with the KMT. In the winter of 1925, Mao Zedong fled for Guangzhou after receiving a lot of heat for revolutionary activities. He led the 6th term of the KMT's peasant movement training institute, the first government sponsored training institute for rural political activities. Here Mao Zedong was secretly training and preparing militants while also teaching them basic socialist theory. When Sun Yat-Sen died and Chiang Kai-Shek rose to power, Mao Zedong supported his NRA and their northern expedition. Yet in the wake of the northern expedition Mao Zedong was helping the peasants rise up and seize the land of wealthy landowners, in many cases with violence. It was this type of behavior that began to really ruffle the feathers of the KMT leaders who of course were landowners themselves. In March of 1927 Mao appeared at the 3rd Plenum of the KMT central executive committee in Wuhan, who were actively trying to strip Chiang Kai-Shek of his power and bolster Wang Jingwei in his stead. Mao Zedong played an active role, pushing peasant issues, arguing for the death penalty to be exacted on those found guilty of counter revolutionary activity, justifying it by simply stating “peaceful methods cannot suffice”. In April Mao Zedong was appointed to the KMT's 5 member central land committee where he urged peasants to stop paying rent. He then put into motion a draft resolution for land acquisition calling for the confiscation of land belonging to "local bullies and bad gentry, corrupt officials, militarists and all counter-revolutionary elements in the villages". Mao Zedong then carried out a "Land Survey", stating that anyone owning over 30 mou (four and a half acres), which constituted 13% of the population at the time, were uniformly counter-revolutionary. Many of his colleagues thought he was going too far, some not far enough. In the end only some of his suggestions were partially implemented.  When the Wuhan-Nanjing war broke out, Chiang Kai-Shek performed the Shanghai Massacre, beginning the White Terror. The CCP state more than 5000 communists were killed by the hands of the Green Gang in Shanghai. Over in Beijing Zhang Zuolin performed his own little white terror taking the life of those like Li Dazhao. In May the CCP claim tens of thousands of communists and their suspected allies were murdered, perhaps up to 25,000. The CCP contuined to support the Wuhan government, somthing Mao Zedong supported initially. Yet by the time of the CCP's 5th Congress he had changed his mind and was staking all of his revolutionary hope of peasant militias. It really did not matter as the Wuhan government performed its own white terror, albeit less violent in july. The CCP then founded the Workers and Peasants Red Army of China to go to war with Chiang Kai-Shek. Thus this brings us back to our story about the Autumn harvest uprising. In mid August, Mao Zedong and Peng Gongda arrived in Changsha. For the later half of August they helped reorganize the Hunan Provincial Committee where the issue of how to launch the Autumn harvest uprising was discussed. Mao Zedong proposed narrowing the scope of the uprising after the results of the Nanchang uprising. Regarding the area for the uprising, it was agreed it should not be too large, and should be concentrated around 7 counties. They needed to rely solely upon the power of the peasants, with roughly 1-2 regiments as a military backbone. They would no longer fly the KMT banner, now it would be the Red flag of the CCP. During the meeting a firm agreement was made regarding land distribution: "The current land revolution has reached the stage of fundamentally abolishing the land rent system and overthrowing the landlord regime. At this time, the party's policy towards farmers should be that the poor peasants lead the middle peasants, capture the rich peasants, and overthrow the landlord system. This is the land revolution." Mao Zedong emphasized at the meeting: “Our party's previous mistake was to ignore the military. Now we should seize power and build power on the barrel of a gun." To usher in the Autumn Harvest uprising the Hunan Provincial Party Committee decided to establish two leading organizations: the first was the Front Committee composed of various troops with Mao Zedong leading them, the other was the Action Committee composed of county committees, their leadership and Yi Lirong would lead them. The uprising was scheduled to begin on September 9th, with the destruction of a railway. On the 11th all counties would revolut simultaneously. On the 15th Changsha would revolt and on the 16th Changsha would be captured. At that time Red Army forces were stationed in Xiushui, Tonggu, Anyuan and along the border area of Hunan and Jiangxi. In early September Mao Zedong arrived in Anyuan and Tonggu preparing the military leaders. It was decided the forces in Xiushui, Tonggu, Anyuan and a few local counties would unify into the 1st Division of the 1st Workers and Peasants Revolutionary Army. The division was roughly 5000 men, with Lu Deming as its commander in chief and Yu Shadu as the 1st division's commander. The 1st division held 3 regiments; the 1st regiment at Xiushui composed of the former National Revolutionary Army Second Front Army Headquarters Guard Regiment, Pingjiang Workers and Peasants Volunteer Corps and the Peasant Self-Defense Forces of Chongyang and Tongcheng Counties in Hubei Province; the 2nd regiment located in Anyuan, was composed of the Anyuan Workers' Picket Team, Anyuan Mine Police Team and some Peasant Self-Defense Forces in Anfu, Yongxin, Lianhua, Pingxiang and Liling Counties; the 3rd Regiment, located in Tonggu, was composed of the Liuyang Workers and Peasants Volunteer Corps and the Guard Regiment, and part of the Pingjiang Workers and Peasants Volunteer Corps.  The plan was for the 1st Regiment to capture Pingjiang; the 2nd regiment would capture Pingxiang and Liling and the 3rd regiment would capture Liuyang. Afterwards the regiments would simultaneously march upon Changsha, hopefully with the full cooperation of peasant armies who were performing uprisings in various counties as well as the urban workers in Changsha would perform their own uprising. On September 9th, 60 railway workers in Changsha began destroying the railway lines from the city to Yueyang and Zhuzhou. On the 11th the 1st Red division launched the uprising. The 1st regiment departed Xiushui and Zhajin advancing to Changshou street via Longmen. Their main bulk entered Jinping when they were suddenly attacked by the Qiu Guoxuan regiment, this was the remnants of the Guizhou warlord Wang Tianpei. The troops were scattered after losing 200 men and their weapons. The forces then moved quickly towards Pingjiang and Liuyang counties, trying to get closer to the 3rd regiment. The 3rd regiment at this time was under the direct command of Mao Zedong who managed to capture Baisha in Liuyang county during the afternoon. On the 12th he captured Dongmen City, annihilated a great part of the warlord forces there. On the 14th two KMT battalions counterattack Dongmen City. The 3rd regiment fought them for several hours before moving to Shangping. Meanwhile the 2nd regiment departed Anyuan and attacked Pingxiang, failing to take it. On the 12th they turned to Laoguan due west of Pingxiang. With cooperation from a peasant uprising they managed to capture Liling county where they also defeated one KMT battalion, capturing a lot of weapons and rescued 300 communist prisoners. On the 14th another two KMT battalions from Changsha, another from Pingxiang all counterattacked Liling. The 2nd regiment immediately turned north to attack Liuyang county on the 15th, but the KMT forces caught up to them inflicted severe casualties. By the 17th Mao Zedng ordered all the regiments to concentrate in Wenjia city due southeast of Liuyang city. At this point the Red Army broke into separate offensives. Workers and peasants were performing uprisings in Pingjiang, Liuyang, Liling, Zhuzhou, Anyuan and other places. Their successes were of varying scales. Some of these peasant and worker armies were armed with nothing more than spears, broadswords, some had small arms. They resorted to house to house warfare, storming buildings, trying to capture guns. They massacred the gentry and landowning classes as they found them hiding in their homes. Red army forces aided those in Liling and Liuyang, managing to capture the county seats, establishing revolutionary regimes. The uprising in Zhuzhou saw its railway station captured, disrupting a lot of transportation. The uprisings in Pingjiang failed to gain the cooperation of the workers and peasants, so three guerilla units were formed who raided the local area. Overall however, the peasant and worker leaders were being arrested en masse by KMT officials. The peasants and workers became afraid they would be caught up in the White Terror slaughter, thus the uprising ultimately failed. The large workers uprising that was supposed to break out in Changsha never formed.  On the 19th the entire 3rd regiment, the remnants of the 1st regiment and scattered members of the 2nd regiment arrived in Wenjia city one after another. That night Mao Zedong presided over a CCP Front Committee meeting, to analyze the situation and figure out what to do with their forces. They quickly decided to abandon attempts to capture Changsha. Their remaining forces at Pingjiang and Liuyang departed as the KMT were hunting them down, pushing them south along the Luoxiao Mountains. On the 20th the departed Wenjia city heading towards Shangli city. It was there they learned there were KMT troops assembling in Pingxiang, so they turned towards Luxi on the 24th. They then continued south, but were soon ambushed by KMT forces. Lu Deming was killed during the battle leaving the army leaderless, seeing heavy casualties. On the 26th the Red forces attacked and occupied Lianhua and by the 29th entered Sanwan Village in Yongxin COunty. This time they were down to less than 1000 men, morale had collapsed. Their leadership began reorganizing at Sanwan, they referred to their surviving force as the 1st regiment of the 1st Division of the 1st Red Army. In reality they only had two battalions in strength. However their reorganization efforts at least saw them form proper companies and the implementation of a more democratic system. Afterwards they continued south arriving at Gucheng in Ninggang county on October 3rd. There Mao Zedong presided over another CCP Front Committee meeting. They studied everything that had gone wrong with the Autumn Harvest Uprising. They made plans for establishing bases of operations for the two battalions then led by Yuan Wencai and Wang Zuo. After the meeting, Mao Zedong led the forces to Maoping on the 7th. From there they moved to Suichuan county in Jiangxi. Then they moved a great distance through Hunan province to Ciping sitting in Jinggang Mountain, the middle section of the Luoxiao Mountain Range by the 27th. From here onwards their force under the leadership of Mao Zedong would establish a revolutionary base of operations. The Autumn Harvest Uprising was the first time the CCP flag was publicly raised in an armed struggle. It was done to showcase to the people of China the determination of the CCP to independently lead a revolutionary war. After the failed uprising, Mao Zedong really began to take charge of the situation. He ditched the original central committee's plan to capture Changsha and instead marched a great distance into the deep rural areas where the KMT were at their weakest. He sought to embark on a guerilla warfare campaign within the countryside. Here in these remote places they would establish revolutionary bases, preserving and developing Red Armies.The cost of the failure is honestly very difficult to estimate. There are claims the anti-communist mass killings in Hunan alone saw 80,000 killed in Liling alone, and perhaps up to 300,000 in areas like Chaling, LEiyang, Liuyang and Pingjiang.  Meanwhile going back in time a bit to August of 1927. The failed Nanchang uprising gradually spilt southwards to the Dongjiang area of Guangdong. On the 7th the CCP Central Committee held an emergency meeting, where Chen Duxiu was criticized for his appeasement of the KMT right wing. It was also during this meeting, the CCP formalized how they would go about implementing a land revolution and armed uprisings. On the 20th Zhang Tailei, the secretary of the Guangdong CCP provincial committee, discussed plans for a provincial wide uprising. They would mobilize the workers and peasants to hold riots in key locations within Guangdong, particularly Guangzhou. Thus another major uprising was about to be unleashed. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The Autumn Harvest Uprising was a bold move by the CCP. As the Wuhan and Nanjing KMT government unleashed their separate white terrors, the CCP were trying to not only survive the onslaught, but to formulate their own revolutionary movement. Within the emerging communist vacuum it seemed Mao Zedong had found his calling and was striving to reach the top. 

Last time we spoke about the finale of the Northern Expedition, the reunification of China. In May the NRA advanced from the Yellow River bridgehead despite losing access to the Tianjin-Pukou railway, forcing a 60-mile march. General Chen Tiaoyuan captured Tehzhou on the 13th, as the NRA cleared northern Shandong. They then converged on Beijing, with Feng Yuxiang's 2nd Collective Army and Yan Xishan's 3rd Collective Army advancing from different directions. Yan Xishan fought the NPA, recapturing territories and capturing Nankou, which led to speculation he would enter Beijing first. Despite NPA counterattacks, the NRA forces continued their advance. By late May, the NRA's combined efforts and internal NPA issues led to a general retreat of the NPA forces. On June 6, Yan Xishan's troops entered Beijing. The NPA's Zhang Zuolin was assassinated by Japanese officers, leading to a power shift to his son Zhang Xueliang, who later aligned with Chiang Kai-Shek. By December 1928, China was unified under the KMT.   #118 The Chinese Civil War Draws First Blood Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. So I said a few times during the northern expedition that I wanted to push aside the emerging Chinese civil war. Although we loosely covered a lot of the major events, this episode is going to try and narrow and focus it down. Now please note, up until this point I have to admit I had been using sources that were either skewed towards the Chinese nationalist views or were trying to be non biased. For some of these episodes I intentionally am using some CCP aligned sources, I will try my best to balance things out. Also a large part of this is going to be a retelling of the Shanghai Massacre, but more from the point of view of the CCP. All the way back in 1926, Chiang Kai-Shek had managed to seize power over the Kuomintang. He exerted control over the party and army as he unleashed the Northern Expedition. By November 9th Chiang Kai-Shek set up a new headquarters in Nanchang. Chiang Kai-Shek was determined to purge the party of communists and began to do so here. He began by recruiting a large number of right-wing Kuomintang members such as Dai Jitao and Wu Tiecheng. Dai Jitao was a member of the Kuomintang Central Executive Committee and had served as the Minister of the KMT's propaganda department. After the death of Sun Yat-Sen, Dai Jitao had actively promoted an anti-communist movement, drawing support from warlords, right wingers and those the CCP would describe as “imperialists”. In May of 1925 with the support of Chiang Kai-Shek, Dai Jitao began an anti-communist campaign in Shanghai. He ran two successful pamphlets loosely translated in English as "The Philosophical Foundation of Sun Yat-senism" and "National Revolution and the Chinese Kuomintang”. Both worked to promote the teachings of Confucius and Mencius while distorting Sun Yat-sen's thoughts. Dai Jitao was arguing that Sun Yat-Sen's ideology chiefly came from Confucianism instead of western philosophy and that in fact the man was a traditionalist. He twisted Sun Yat-Sen's three principles, castrating them of revolutionary content. All of this quickly became a "banner" for the Kuomintang right-winger to carry out anti-communist activities. After Chiang Kai-Shek arrived in Nanchang, he immediately invited him to go north to jointly plan the purge of the party and anti-communism. Wu Tiecheng joined Dai Jitao, he was the director of the Guangzhou Public security Bureau and a well known KMT right-winger. Prior to the Zhongshan ship incident, Wu Tiecheng stated he had suggested to Chiang Kai-Shek that they impose sanctions on the CCP. In his words “with the registration materials of the special household registration of our Public Security Bureau, we can immediately arrest a dozen of the main Communist Party members, and then use a ship to transport them to a small island near Zhongshan County , or send them to Shanghai. As for the minor members, they will be temporarily detained." Chiang Kai-Shek said "I will think about it first." After the Zhongshan incident, Chiang Kai-Shek pretended to dismiss him from his post, but specially invited him later to Nanchang and dispatched him to Japan as a liaison. Another large figure who was invited over was Huang Fu, who had served as the Minister of Foreign affairs and Education for the Beiyang Government and as its Prime Minister. When Chiang Kai-Shek came to Nanchang he wrote to Huang Fu twice inviting him to come south. On December 31st, Zhang Jingjiang and Chen Guofu were also invited to Nanchang. Zhang Jingjiang was a member of the KMT's Central Supervisory Committee. After the secondary Plenary session of the second central committee, he became chairman of it. He used his authority and colluded with Chen Guofu, the Minister of Organization to dissolve the Guangzhou Municipal Party committee, which at the time was being led by left winger KMT. They did this by placing confidants in various positions to steal power. Simultaneously, they suppressed worker and peasant movements in Guangdong, even dispatching gangsters to kill their leaders and burn down the provincial and Hong Kong strike committee HQ. All of these people gathered at Nanchang formed a anti-communist cabal backing Chiang Kai-Shek. In January of 1927 these men went up Mount Lushan to a famous hotel called Xianyan where they plotted. After several days of meetings, as my source argues, mostly based on the advice of Huang Fu, these following decisions were obtained. Number 1, they would enact a policy of separating from the USSR and purging the party of CCP. Number 2, the NRA must settle the southeast by forming an alliance with the gentry and merchant class there. Number 3 in their diplomatic efforts they had to abandon the USSR and ally themselves to Japan. Number 4, to increase their military power they had to unite with Feng Yuxiangs Guominjun and Yan Xishan.   Upon returning to Nanchang, Chiang Kai-Shek took action, first by attacking Borodin. He sent a telegram to Xu Qian, the chairman of the Wuhan joint conference, stating Borodin had insulted him in public at Wuhan and demanded he be removed from his advisory position. He also recomended expell Borodin back to the USSR. The source I am reading states Chiang Kai-Shek had two rationales for going after Borodin. "Chiang Kai-Shek felt that except for Borodin, the Kuomintang leaders in Wuhan were all politically incompetent. ... As long as Borodin was there, he could not gain a dominant position. Secondly, he was using Borodin like a scape goat to hide his real anti-Soviet purpose'. At this time Chiang Kai-Shek was being labeled a USSR stooge by the NPA and a Japanese stooge by the CCP. In response, Chiang Kai-Shek stated publicly "Our alliance with Russia was left by the Prime Minister. Although its representatives have been arrogant for a long time and oppressed our party leaders in many ways, I believe that this has nothing to do with the Soviet Union's spirit of treating us equally. No matter what their personal attitudes are, we will never change our relationship with the Soviet Union towards Japan. Why should we unite with the Soviet Union? It is because the Soviet Union can treat China equally. Since the Soviet Union has not given up treating us equally, how can we give up the policy of alliance with Russia. ... Not only Japan, but any country, if it can treat China equally, then we will treat them the same way as we treat the Soviet Union. It is not impossible to unite with them. We unite with the Soviet Union to seek freedom and equality for China. It is completely based on the meaning of treating our nation equally, so we must unite with the Soviet Union. If the Soviet Union does not treat us equally and oppresses us in the same way, we will also oppose them in the same way. I have said for a long time." In regards to the CCP Chiang Kai-Shek stated to his close confidants “When I was in Guangzhou, I was always paying attention to the actions of the CCP. I wanted to implement my proposal to overthrow the CCP in Guangzhou, however I did not do so. I was unable to do so because it could mean the end of the Kuomintang”. After the success of the Northern Expedition, Chiang Kai-Shek lamented to his confidants “although our army has won a great victory, I still worry the enemy is not at our front but at our rear. The CCP is causing much trouble within, we must make sure it does not split out party or even collapse our army. There are thorns everywhere”. Publically Chiang Kai-Shek stated "Now there is a rumor that I distrust and alienate my Communist comrades and have a tendency to oppose them. In fact, it cannot be said that I will not oppose the Communist Party. I has always supported the Communist Party... But that is to say, if the Communist Party becomes strong in the future and its members are arrogant and tyrannical, I will definitely correct them and punish them. ... Now many Communist Party members are actually oppressing the Kuomintang members, showing an overbearing attitude, and tend to exclude Kuomintang members, making Kuomintang members embarrassed. In this way, I can no longer treat Communist Party members with the same preferential treatment as before. If I still have the same attitude as before, then I am not in the position of a Kuomintang member, and I cannot be a Kuomintang member. Although I am not a Communist Party member, from a revolutionary perspective, I have to take some responsibility for the success or failure of the Communist Party! I am the leader of the Chinese revolution, not just the leader of the Kuomintang. The Communist Party is a part of the Chinese revolutionary forces. Therefore, if Communist Party members do something wrong or act tyrannically, I have the responsibility and power to intervene and punish them." As you can see, publicly Chiang Kai-Shek was always walking on eggshells when attacking the CCP. If you know the old boiling frog analogy, it's more or less like Chiang Kai-Shek gradually getting the public to attack the CCP. At the ceremony where Li Liejun was appointed chairman of Jiangxi, Chiang Kai-shek once again gave a speech, saying that communism was only a method of economic development, which might be applicable in some countries, but if China adopted communism, it would be a great harm and would only lead to the overthrow and revolution of China. In late January, Chiang Kai-Shek met with Momuro Keijiro, a representative sent by Japan's minister of Finance and Navy at Lushan. Chiang Kai-Shek explained to Keijiro that he understood the importance of the political and economic relationship between Manchuria and Japan. He understood the Japanese had spilt a lot of blood there during the Russo-Japanese War. He believed Manchuria required special consideration and hoped the Japanese would correctly evaluate the KMT's struggle to reunify China. Chiang Kai-Shek then met with the Japanese consul General in Jiujiang, Edo Sentaro, explaining he did not only intend to abolish the unequal treaties but would try to respect the existing conditions as much as possible, such as guaranteeing the recognition of foreign loans and repayments and respecting foreign owned enterprises.  After these meetings Chiang Kai-Shek met with representatives of the Imperial Japanese Military such as Nagami Masuki and Matsumuro Takayoshi. It was Dai Jitao who set up these meetings. Chiang Kai-Shek began the talks by making it clear the KMT would not work with the CCP and was willing to work with Japan to prevent the spread of Communism in China. Chiang Kai-Shek also met with the Japanese politician Yamamoto Jotario who would go on to say in Beijing that he believed the Generalissimo was an outstanding military leader. Needless to say, as my source would put it “Chiang Kai-Shek was closely colluding with Japanese imperialism”. He was also establishing contacts with the US. He dispatched Wang Zhengting to Shanghai to meet the American consul general there. Wang Zhengting told him the KMT had washed their hands of the communists and that there would be nor more incidents such as the one that befell Hankou. The American consul general in Guangzhou was likewise contacted through the finance minister of Guangdong, Kong Xiangxi. What the American consuls told their government was “if the powers want to drive the Soviets out of China, they should establish direct contact with Chiang Kai-Shek”. Chiang Kai-Shek also publicly expressed regret to numerous nations for incidents such as the one in Nanjing. He was gaining a reputation as being the only leader in China capable of restoring order amongst the chaos. Many of these foreign diplomats privately told Chiang Kai-Shek that if he wanted to really brush shoulders with them he had to purge the communists and soon. To truly purge the communists Chiang Kai-Shek reaches a deal with the bourgeoisie of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. They will support him economically if he helps suppress the worker movements in Shanghai. They fund Chiang Kai-Shek some 500,000 Yuan in early March, then on the 29th the Shanghai Commercial Federation pledges 5 million Yuan, with another 3 million on April 1st. Around this time Chiang Kai-Shek secretly send Wang Boling, the deputy commander of the 1st army; Yang Hu, chief of the special affairs department of the general HQ and Chen Qun the director of the political department of the eastern route army to Shanghai in disguise to meet Huang Jinrong. Huang Jinrong was a chief detective working in the French concession of Shanghai. He also happened to be one of the top three gangsters working under Du Yuesheng of the Green Gang. Huang Jinrong summoned Du Yuesheng and the other Green Gang leader Zhang Xiaolin, as they all discussed how to purge the communists. The Green Gang leaders seized the opportunity to help the KMT. They began monitoring the CCP, armed their gang members and began to attack anyone who was picketing. They formed the “China Progress Association”, which in reality was just Green Gang members. This association proceeded to attack the Shanghai General Labor Union, providing the perfect pretext for Chiang Kai-Shek to act.  On April 1st Wang Jingwei returns to Shanghai from aboard. By the 3rd Chiang Kai-Shek telegrams that Wang Jingwei is reinstated and holds secret talks with him. On the 8th Chiang Kai-Shek organizes a Shanghai Provisional Political Committee, stipulating it will decide all military, political and financial decisions and will replace the Shanghai special municipality provincial government that was established after the third Shanghai worker uprising. On the 9th he unleashes martial law prohibiting assemblies, strikes and marches, and established the Songhu Martial Law Command, with Bai Chongxi and Zhou Fengqi as the commander and deputy commander. Chiang Kai-Shek then takes his leave for Nanjing, leaving the job to Bai Chongxi who will supervise a coup in Shanghai. In a vain attempt Chen Duxiu tells the CCP to ease up on the Anti-Chiang Kai-Shek stuff. Then its announced to them that Chen Duxiu had managed to form a deal with Wang Jingwei. Chiang Kai-Shek send word from Nanjing to carry out the purge, in a very “execute order 66 fashion”.  April the 12th takes a wild turn in Shanghai. In the early morning a signal is raised over a warship anchored near the Gaochang temple. Hundreds of well armed Green Gang, Triads and some secret agents wearing blue shorts and white cloth  armbands with a black gongs on them, dispersed from the French concession in several cars. From 1 to 5am they attacked the picketing workers in Zhabei, Nanshi, Huxi, Wusong, Hongkou and other districts. The workers resisted immediately causing fierce street battles to break out. The 26th Army of the NRA, an old Sun Chuanfang unit that recently defected, came to forcibly confiscate guns while stating they were “mediating an internal strife amongst the workers”. Over 2700 armed workers in Shanghai were disarmed. More than 120 were killed with another 180 injured. The Shanghai General Labor Union club and all their associated pickets in the districts were occupied. Within the foreign concessions, foreign military and police forces arrested more than 1000 CCP members and workers who were immediately handed over to Chiang Kai-Shek's men. On the morning of the 13th, the workers from Shanghai's tobacco, silk factories, trams, municipal administration, postal services, sailors and various other industries went on strike. Over 200,000 workers took to the streets and the Shanghai General Labor Union held a mass rally in Qingyun Road Square in Zhabei with over 100,000 participants. They held a quick conference calling for resolutions. The first resolution was to hand over their weapons. Secondly those who destroyed their unions should be severely punished. Third the families of those killed needed to be compensated. Fourth protests should be made against the imperialists within the concessions. Fifth a telegram needed to be sent to the central government, then whole nation and world to demand assistance. Lastly the military authorities should be responsible for protecting the Shanghai trade unions. After the conference, the masses marched upon the headquarters of the 2nd division of the 26th army along Baoshan road to petition for the release of their comrades and for their weapons to be returned to them. They marched for a kilometer and upon reaching the Sandeli area of Baoshan road, soldiers of the 2nd division rushed out and opened fire upon them killing more than 100 on the spot. It was said Baoshan road was flooded with blood. That afternoon Chiang Kai-Sheks forces occupied the Shanghai General Labor Union and General Command of the Shanghai workers. They closed down and disbanded numerous revolutionary organizations and carried out searches and murders. Within 3 days after the Shanghai incident, more than 300 Shanghai CCP members were killed, another 500 were arrested and 5000 went “missing”. Like I said in the previous podcast on this very subject, I will leave it to you as to what missing meant. On the 15th of april the Kuomintang in Guangzhou launched their own coup. On that day more than 2000 CCP members and their supporters were arrested, 200 trade unions were closed. This all would b followed by similar activities in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian and Guangxi where CCP members were purged. The NPA in the north would likewise crack down on communists. Li Dazhao had been placed on the Beiyang governments list of most wanted back in 1926 following the March 18th massacre. Since then he was hiding in the Soviet Embassy in Beijing, continuing to lead political maneuvers against the warlords. When the first united front collapsed as a result of Chiang Kai-Sheks purges, Zhang Zuolin ordered troops to raid the Soviet embassy. Li Dazhao, his wife and daughter were all arrested. Among 19 other communists, Li Dazhao was executed on April 28th of 1927 by strangulation. One of the behemoths who ushered in the New Culture Movement and was a founder of the CCP had become one of its greatest martyrs. The first united front was no more and in response to this the CCP declared "Chiang Kai-shek has become an open enemy of the national revolution, a tool of imperialism, and the culprit of the white terror of massacring workers, peasants and revolutionary masses”. This was followed by a call to mobilize, unite and form a solid front to fight the warlords and KMT. In May of 1927 the Communist International issued “the May Emergency Directive” to the CCP. (1) Without land revolution, victory is impossible; without land revolution, the Kuomintang Central Committee will become a pitiful plaything in the hands of unreliable generals. Excessive behavior must be opposed, but not by the army, but through the peasant associations. (2) It is necessary to make concessions to artisans, merchants and small landowners, and to unite with these strata. Only the land of large and medium-sized landowners should be confiscated; the land of officers and soldiers should not be touched. (3) Some old leaders of the KMT Central Committee will waver and compromise. We should recruit more new leaders of workers and peasants from below to join the KMT Central Committee and renew the KMT's upper echelons. (4) Mobilize 20,000 Communist Party members and 50,000 revolutionary workers and peasants in Hunan and Hubei to form several new armies and build our own reliable army. (5) A revolutionary military tribunal headed by prominent Kuomintang and non-Communists should be established to punish those officers who persecute workers and peasants.  Wang Jingwei obtained this document from Luo Yi, the representative of the Communist International. The high-ranking officials of the Kuomintang believed that this was the Communist International's armed seizure of power and they were determined to purge the party. Thus began the Wuhan-Nanjing war. However as we saw, Wang Jingwei would perform his own purge of the communists on May 21st as he found out the Soviets were pushing the CCP to seize control over his regime. In order to resist the KMT's massacres, or as the CCP put it “the white terror”, the CCP Central Committee reorganized itself on July 12th of 1927. Chen Duxiu and other early CCP leaders who had insisted on compromising with the KMT were dismissed from their posts and labeled right-wing capitulationists. The CCP formed an alliance with left wing KMT members forming a quasi second front where they planned an armed uprising in Nanchang hoping it would spark a large peasant uprising. They were led by He Long and Zhou Enlai. He Long a ethnic Tujia and Hunanese native was born to a poor peasant family. He received no formal education and worked as a cowherder during his youth. When he was 20 he killed a local Qing tax assessor who had killed his uncle for defaulting on his taxes. From this point he fled and became an outlaw, apparently his signature weapon was a butcher knife. In 1918 he raised a volunteer revolutionary army aligned with an emerging Hunanese warlord. By 1920 he joined the NRA and began brushing shoulders with CCP members. During the northern expedition he commanded the 1st division, 9th corps and served under Zhang Fakui. By late 1926 he joined the CCP. When the first united front collapsed he joined up with the CCP and took command of the 20th corps, 1st column of the Red Army. Zhou Enlai was born in Huai'an of Jiangsu in 1898. He was born to a scholarly family, many of them officials, but like many during the late 19th century in China suffered tremendously. Zhou Enlai was adopted by his fathers youngest brother Zhou Yigan who was also ill with tuberculosis. The adoption was more of a way to cover Zhou Yigans lack of an heir. Zhou Yigan died soon after and Zhou Enlai was raised by his widow Chen. He received a traditional literacy education. Zhou Enlai's biological mother died when he was 9 and Chen when he was 10. He then fell into the care of his uncle Zho Yigeng in Fengtian. Zhou Enlai continued his education at Nankai Middle School who were adopting an educational model used at the Philipps academy in the US. Zhou Enlai excelled at debate, acting, drama the sort of skill sets needed for public service. Like many students of his day he went to Japan in 1917 for further studies. He tried to learn Japanese to enter Japanese schools but failed to do so. He also faced a lot of racism in Japan, prompting him to become quite anti japanese. While in Japan he became very interested in news about the Russian Revolution. This led him to read works from Chen Duxiu.  In 1919 he returned to Tianjin where it is said he led student protests during the May Fourth movement, though a lot of modern scholars don't believe he did. Zhou Enlai then became a university student at Nankai and an activist. He led the Awakening Society and would find himself arrested. During this time he became familiar with Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu. Then in 1920 he went to study in Marseille. In 1921 he joined a Chinese Communist Cell while in Paris. By 1922 he helped found a European branch of the CCP. When the first United Front began he joined the KMT and in 1924 was summoned back to China. He joined the Political department of the Whampoa military academy. He was made Whampoa's chief political officer, but he also took the post as secretary of the CCP of Guangdong, Guangxi and served as a Major-General. Soon he became the secretary of the CCP's Guangdong Provincial committee. In 1925 he got his first taste of military command against Chen Jiongming, accompanying the Whampoa cadets as a political officer. When Chen Jiongming regrouped and attacked Guangzhou again that year, Chiang Kai-Shek personally appointed Zhou Enlai as director of the 1st corps political department. Soon after he was appointed a KMT party representative as chief commissar of the 1st corps. With the newfound position he began appointing communists as commissars in 4 out of the 5 corps divisions. However his work at Whampoa came to an end during the Zhongshan Warship incident as Chiang Kai-Shek began purging communists from high ranking positions. Whampoa was a significant part of his career providing him with skills and a network. Until the first united fronts collapse he worked to form numerous armed CPP groups. He was sent to Shanghai where he was part of the effort to stage an uprising there. During the massacre he was arrested and nearly killed if not for the work of Zhao Shu, a representative of the 26th army who released him. From there he fled to Hankou where he participated in the CCP's 5th national congress. When Wang Jingwei unleashed his purge, Zhou Enlai went into hiding. When the CCP called for an uprising in Nanchang, Zhou Enlai as a CCP secretary was in a unique position to lead it. The CCP designated Zhou Enlai, Li Lisan, Yun Daiying and Peng Pai to form a Front Committee. The troops available to them were the 24th and 10th divisions of the 11th army of the 2nd front army, the entire 20th army, 73rd and 75th regiment of the 25th division of the 4th army and part of the officer training corps of the 3rd army of the 5th front army led by Zhu De. He Long was the commander in chief of the 2nd front army, Ye Ting was his deputy and acting front line commander. Zhou Enlai was the chief of staff with Liu Bocheng as director of the political directorate. At this time, the main force of the 3rd Army of the 5th Front Army of the Kuomintang Wuhan Government was located in Zhangshu, Ji'an; the main force of the 9th Army was located in Jinxian and Linchuan; and the main force of the 6th Army was advancing to Nanchang via Pingxiang; the rest of the 2md Front Army was located in Jiujiang; only the 5th Front Army Guard Regiment and parts of the 3rd, 6th, and 9th Armies, totaling more than 3,000 people, were stationed in Nanchang and its suburbs. The CCP Front Committee decided to launch an uprising on August 1 before the arrival of reinforcements. At 2:00am on August 1st the Nanchang uprising began. The 1st and 2nd division of the 20th army launched attacks against the defenders of the Old Fantai Yamen, Dashiyuan street and the  Niuxing railway station. Meanwhile the 24th division of the 11th army attacked the Songbaixiang catholic church, Xinyingfang and Baihuazhou. The bloody battle lasted until dawn inflicting 3000 casualties and capturing more than 5000 small arms of various types, 700,000 rounds of ammunition and a few cannons. During the afternoon the 73rd regiment of the 25th division station at Mahuiling, 3 battalions of the 75th regiment and a machine gun company of the 74th regiment led by Nie Rongzhen and Zhou Shidi revolted and came to Nanchang by the 2nd of august.  For the moment it seemed the CCP had achieved a grand success at Nanchang. The CCP then began proclaiming Chiang Kai-Shek and Wang Jingwei had betrayed the revolution and that of Sun Yat-Sens three principles by choosing to side with the imperialists and warlords. Meanwhile the CCP aligned military units began to gather in Nanchang requiring a reorganization. It was decided the uprising army would continue to use the designation of 2nd front army of the NRA with He Long serving as its commander in chief and Ye Ting as his deputy. Ye Ting would also command the 11th army consisting of the 24th, 25th and 10th divisions, Nie Rongzhen would be his CCP party representative; He Long would command the 20th Army consisting of the 1st and 2nd divisions with Liao Qianwu as his CCP party representative. Zhou Enlai with Zhu De as his deputy would lead the 9th army with Zhu Kejing as his CCP party representative. Altogether they were 20,000 strong and now very well armed. There was to be a great celebration, it seemed this was the grand moment the CCP would take the center stage. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The Chinese Civil War had officially just begun. Chiang Kai-Shek and Wang Jingwei purged their respective regimes of communists unleashing a white terror. In a scramble to survive the CCP reorganized itself and sought revenge with their first target being Nanchang. From here until 1949, the CCP and KMT would fight for the future of China.  

Last time we spoke about the collapse of the First United Front. A quasi civil war had emerged between the Wuhan KMT government backed by the CCP and the Nanking government backed by Chiang Kai-Shek. Chiang Kai-Shek unleashed a violent anti-communist purge at Shanghai, breaking ties with the Soviets, prompting them to toss their lot in with Wuhan. Wang Jingwei eventually took over the rival government, as he tried to alienate Chiang Kai-Shek and squeeze him out of the KMT entirely. Because of the lack of coordination between the two KMT factions the NPA gradually gained the upper hand and began pushing the NRA forces further south. Then Feng Yuxiang and his Guominjun entered the fray invading Honan. Both Chiang Kai-Shek and Wang Jingwei tried to win Feng Yuxiang over, but Chiang Kai-Shek simply had the better deal. Then the Soviets unleashed their own sneaky attempt to get the CCP on top, only to see their advisors and the CCP purged as the Wuhan and Nanking government reunified, as Chiang Kai-Shek stepped down.   #115 The Northern Expedition Part 6: The September Government Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. On August 12th of 1927, Chiang Kai-Shek shocked everyone by agreeing to step down. This came just as the NRA were fleeing towards the south banks of the Yangtze after multiple positions they held in the north were overrun by the NPA. The last rear guard escaped the south bank on August 19th. The NRA had been served decisive defeats. The two KMT factions attempted reconciliation, but they were still very much fragmented. Within the Nanking regime many still supported Chiang Kai-Shek. When Chiang Kai-Shek went into exile, many followed him such as Hu Hanmin, Cai Yuanpei, Zhang Jingjiang, Wu Zhihui and Li Shizeng. For them, any alternative to the generalissimo at the helm of the northern expedition was simply a no go. This exodus did not see the other recall Chiang Kai-Shek. Chiang Kai-Shek traveled with his family to Fenghua near Ningpo in Zhejiang before he took a ship to Japan. Over in Japan Chiang Kai-Shek met with Prime Minister Tanaka Giichi, discussing the futility of trying to reorganize the KMT. During his time in exile he would win the hand of Soong Meiling, his second wife. They would marry on December the 1st of 1927 in Shanghai. Back over in Nanking the situation kept deteriorating. In fact despite the fact Wuhan and Nanking agreed to reunify, they had not officially done so. Tang Shungchih's forces were still harassing near Nanking as the NPA continued to use their heavy artillery upon the second capital of China. The NRA has lost the rich lands of Anhui and Jiangsu north of the Yangtze. Within a do or die type situation the NRA commanders tried to pull it back together. The Guangxi generals, alongside General Ho Yingqin, the commander of the 1st NRA army, were defending the south banks. The Nanking KMT officials praised Wuhan for purging their communists and called for a plenary session. The KMT all met on August 24th, and both sides began negotiations. However the military situation kept getting worse. Feng Yuxiangs Guominjun suffered defeats in Honan to Zhang Xueliang as Sun Chuanfang's artillery pounded upon Nanking and the NRA positions along the southern bank of the Yangtze. Sun Chuanfang unleashed a particularly heavy bombardment on August 25th, seeking to soften up the NRA so he could launch an offensive. Sun Chuanfang was actually butting heads a bit with Zhang Zuolin. Zhang Zuolin favored a strategy of gradual containment of the NRA. Basically allow the heavy artillery to beat them down until they were weak enough for the combined NPA front to advance. But Sun Chuanfang wanted to reclaim his lost territory, especially Shanghai, and he could see the KMT were stuck in limbo. He did not want to wait for them to possibly reconcile and thus lose him the chance to strike back. As his August 25th bombardment raged on, he launched several landing parties towards the southern banks of the Yangtze. Some of these landings parties were diversionary attacks, but two regiments were performing the main real strike. They landed at 3am on the 26th near the town of Lungtan sitting beside the station along the Shanghai-Nanking railway. They secured a beachhead and their vanguard surged inland while Sun Chuanfang tossed thousands across the Yangtze over an armada over stolen river boats. The NRA had spread their numbers quite thin to be able to man the entire lower Yangtze, thus Sun Chuanfangs vanguard were easily able to breach part of the line defended by Li Zongren's 7th NRA army. The NPA forces donned civilian clothing and spread out as they cut telegraph and rail lines. The town of Lungtan was swarmed with river boats as Sun Chuanfang forged 3 beachheads. As the first day of combat came to a close, Li Zongren was able to concentrate his efforts and drove off Sun Chuanfangs forces who were trying to fortify hills and away from the Shanghai-Nanking railway. The fighting saw the NRA suffer 800 casualties, but they managed to capture 3000 NPA who were cut off from their comrades. Better yet, these prisoners came with some much needed field guns. On August 27th, Sun Chuanfang continued to ship men across the Yangtze, via his beachhead at Lungtan. With new reinforcements, his men managed to capture the railway station. Amongst his troops were some of Zhang Zongchangs elite White Russian forces who could prove to be a devastating problem if they acquired armored trains. The NRA reinforced their lines to meet the NPA challenge, now some 30,000 northern Chinese were defending a perimeter of several square miles between the train station and Lungtan. Countless NRA commanders at the frontlines telegrammed frantic messages back to the KMT politicians, demanding they get their shit together so a real counter offensive could be mounted.  As the battle for Lungtan raged on August 28th, Feng Yuxiang over in eastern Honan responded by driving an offensive into Shandong threatening Tsaozhou. Sun Chuanfang had basically gambled a significant part of his forces. He knew very well that if the NRA reconciled and coordinated properly, his beachhead would easily be dislodged, but he was gambling they would take a lot of time to reorganize. On August 30th, Tan Yenkai send a message to Wang Jingwei and Tang Shengchih from Nanking asking for their help. Specifically he wanted them to launch an offensive into Anhui from Wuhan to divert NPA forces. With Chiang Kai-Shek gone, it seemed the Wuhan leaders were more willing now, so they unleashed an offensive towards Hofei in Anhui. The Wuhan NRA sought to out flank the NPA along the Tianjing-Pukou railway line. Further to the north, Feng Yuxiang's Guominjun's forces captured Tsaozhou, 70 miles from said railway. From the direction of Shanghai, Ho Yingqin's 1st NRA army began and advance, converging on the eastern sector of Sun Chuanfangs beachhead. Feng Yuxiang had not been the only other faction to come out of the woodwork to aid the NRA. When Feng Yuxiang entered the fray he also purged his Guominjun of communists, crippling the Wuhan government's plans to advance north. Tang Shungchih's drive north had seen many of Wu Peifu's forces defect over to him. Thus Wu Peifu took the opportunity when Tang Shungchih went back to Wuhan to escape with his remaining forces into Sichuan. From there he announced his retirement. It was a bitter end for the Jade Marshall The turtle warlord of Shanxi, Yan Xishan agreed to align himself with the NRA. This saw his 100,000 strong army join the war and apply pressure to the NPA.  The coordinated efforts against Sun Chuanfang began to show results immediately. The NRA were drawing upon reinforcements as far as Hangzhou, tightening a noose around Sun Chuanfangs beachhead. The NRA navy also disaptched the gunboats Zhuzhen and the Zhudung, preventing Sun Chuanfang from shipping men or materials over the Yangtze. Fighting their way through the enemy perimeter, the 7th NRA army recaptured Lungtan and her railway station for a second time during the night of the 30th. During said night, Sun Chuanfangs had gathered nearly 40,000 troops for a predawn counterattack. The counterattack saw his men fighting with their back up against the river with little to no chance of evacuation because of the NRA gunboats. Their only hope was to recapture a defensible position, perhaps upon some of the nearby hills, to hunker down and hope for reinforcement or rescue. The counterattack was vicious, the NPA forces were basically a trapped but savage animal. Their counterattacks were so fierce, the NRA realized that by defending the lower Yangtze and attacking Lungtan, they might lose control over the delta. They could very well be pushed up the mountainous regions further south. On the 31st the 1st NRA army defending the railway station was dislodged under heavy fire. General Ho Yingqin personally ran along the line wielding his pistol, shouting if the NPA overran them now, he would shoot himself. Sun Chuanfang then looked on in horror as his forces momentum began to break and his entire army south of the Yangtze was being battered. His entire army and dream of retaking his 5 provinces, let alone Shanghai was falling apart. His 40,000 troops were cut off, they had no escape route, their flanks were surrounded, his river craft were all sinking to the bottom of the Yangtze. He alongside his personal guards managed to escape, but nearly his entire army was left behind.  The NRA ended up accepting the surrender of a colossal 30,000 troops, including 10 commanders of brigades, regiments and divisions; 30 heavy artillery pieces and 35,000 rifles. Perhaps 10,000 of Sun Chuanfangs men had been killed in the 6 day bloodbath, only a mere thousand managed to escape to rejoin his 10,000 man strong rearguard along the north bank. Where Sun Chuanfang had once fielded 11 divisions and 6 mixed brigades, now remained 3 divisions with a few mixed brigades. It was a hard won victory for the NRA, they recorded suffering nearly 10,000 casualties, of which 500 were from the 5th Whampoa Academy class who graduated in July of 1926. Despite the severe defeat, the NPA had still re-surged and the KMT were still quite divided. Following Sun Chuanfangs defeat, his decimated troops limped back north onto trains bound for Shandong. Had the NRA been better coordinated they could have pursued the enemy and managed to take some territory within the north china plain up the yellow river. A NRA vanguard did advance to Pukou, but was forced to pause as more infighting broke out between the Wuhan and Nanking governments. On September 2nd, Li Zongren and Ho Yingqin had their troops ready to cross over the Yangtze but awaited instructions from their leaders. Wang Jingwei led a group of Wuhans leadership over to Shanghai to discuss reunifying the KMT. Meanwhile Zhang Zuolins had dispatched a naval force led by Admiral Po Hai who bombarded Shanghai's Woosung docks providing ample incentives for the KMT to get their shit together quicker. On September 7th the KMT held meetings as the NRA began recrossing the Yangtze anxious about the political decisions being made down south. The NRA forces landed at 4 point along the northern banks and would divide into 3 columns for an offensive. The right column advanced between the Grand Canal and Yellow Sea; the middle column north along the railway and the left remained more stationary in Anhui just incase the Wuhan 25,000 man strong NRA force of Tang Shengchih should attack them. Meanwhile down south the KMT came to a temporary coalition, known as the “September Government”. On the 14th the meetings in Shanghai had progressed far enough that the delegates elected to expand them officially into a plenary session for the KMT's 4th national assembly at Nanking. The guys strongly backing the new coalition were the Guangxi Clique generals Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi and the Wuhan officials Sun Fo and Tan Yenkai. Now Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi held leverage over the Wuhan officials as their troops were literally in the vicinity ofNanking. Wang Jingwei was hundreds of miles away from his commander in chief Tang Shengchih, thus he refused to recognize Nanking as the seat of the KMT government. Wang Jingwei also accused Sun Fo and Tan Yenkai of betraying Wuhan's government and refused to travel with the others to Nanking. Wang Jingwei departed Shanghai on September 13th heading for Jiangxi. Over at Nanking on the 15th, 13 KMT officials representing the control committee and military council met as a collective body to officially create the coalition government. On the 19th the gathering had agreed on specific compromises; the first was an agreement that Dr Sun Yat-Sen's three principles was still their doctrine; the second was to adhere to the KMT authority; third to oppose any CCP interference; and fourth to complete the northern expedition to reunify China. Looking at these terms it would seem they were broad enough to please all within the KMT. However the new coalition government did not have two of the largest KMT leaders, Wang Jingwei and Chiang Kai-Shek. Despite this the KMT had grown to several million members by this point. Estimates are rough but perhaps in 1926 they were 500,000 and by the end of the northern expedition would be 5 million.  Now the new september government faced a plethora of enemies, the first being Tang Shengchich up in the Yangtze valley; the second being the NPA in north china and the third being the CCP insurgents all around them. Although purged the CCP had managed to goad some of Wuhan's NRA over to their new stronghold in Nanchang. Again we will come back to the Chinese civil war a little after the warlord era stuff and I will talk about all the long march, etc. They would go on to stage a coup in early august aimed at taking control over Jiangxi. This was known as the Nanchang uprising and it lasted from august 1st to the 4th. It was followed up by armed uprising in Jiangxi, Fujian and Guangdong. Yet these all failed and the CCP resolved to maintain their existence through underground operations. The CCP gradually centralized itself, tightened discipline amongst the ranks and performed their own little purges. To suppress the CCP menace, on August 10th before his forced retirement, Chiang Kai-Shek had ordered Li Zongren to carry out operations out of Guangdong into the CCP held areas in Hunan and Jiangxi. By the 12th Li Zongren's subordinate Zhang Fakuei also aided the anti-CCP campaign there. As for Tang Shengchih, like Wang Jingwei he too resisted joining the September government. In fact he grabbed a large portion of the Wuhan KMT and NRA and went back to being a warlord. Basically Tang Shengchih saw an opportunity and grabbed it. On August 21st he pushed the Nanking NRA forces of Wang Pu and Xia Touyin out of Anking over in Anhui and from there he advanced downriver along the south bank taking Wuhu on September 6th. After taking Wuhu, Tang Shungchih loosely held control over Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi and the heartland of Anhui, since the Wuhan government had dissolved. He had a few big Generals under his command such as Ho Chen now leading the 35th army along the Yangtze's north bank and Li Xing leading the 36th army on the south bank near Wuhu. Tang Shungchih had profited heavily from Feng Yuxiang's entry into the war. When Feng Yuxiang did so, Tang Shungchih dispatched forces into southern Honan to capture the Wusheng pass. Along the NRA's western flank, Tang Shungchih's hostile presence greatly hampered their ability to focus north. Thus September saw the northern expedition moving at a crawling pace. Many units shifted over to quell what was seen as Tang Shungchih's rebellion, while the central NRA forces maintained a bridgehead at Pukou against the NPA. The NRA vanguard advanced 25 miles north to Chuxian. On October 15th the NRA began to move their forces up the banks of the Yangtze against Tang Shungchih. The armies were led by Li Zongren and Chen Tiaoyuan on the north bank and Cheng Chen with Yue Kaixin on the south bank. Chu Peiteh's 3rd army threatened Tang Shungchih around the Hunan-Jiangxi border. From the south Li Jishen advanced his troops along the Guangdong border and would attack southern Hunan in early November. Basically it was a large encirclement maneuver. The main fighting against Tang Shungchih would occur along the Yangtze as Nanking tossed forces upstream. The forces of Tang Shunchih lost a war of attrition as the NRA surrounded them, cutting off their lines of communication and supply. Tang Shungchih knew he would eventually be decisively defeated and most likely captured. Thus Tang Shungchih secretly got aboard a Japanese steamship on November 12th and went into exile in Japan. The NRA spent some more time clearing up their western flank until they finally could refocus their efforts against the NPA in the north. Ever since September, the bridgehead situation across the Yangtze remained fairly static. Now again the NRA marched north and quickly, advancing 30 miles while they captured Mingkuang in Anhui on November 9th, followed by Fengyang on the 14th and assaulted the capital of Bengbu on the 16th. Their offensive was concentrated along the Tianjing-Pukou railway, but the NRA were avoided frontal attacks against said line as it was heavily fortified by railroad artillery. Zhang Zongchang's armored train specialization was heavily paying off for the NPA. To combat this the NRA adopted sweeping tactics to try and out flank the NPA, striking into the rail communications in their rear. Meanwhile the warlord armies who had acquired skills in scouring the countryside to steal livestock, foodstuff and coolies. But the peasants by this point had acquired their own skills, particularly the age old practice of hiding their produce and vanishing before warlord gangs showed up. The NPA forces along their most southern fronts were beginning to really suffer because of this. Of course word had spread far and wide about the NRA's remarkable practice of paying for what they needed, thus the peasants were heavily aiding them.  Sun Chuanfang launched a counterattack at Bengbu, trying to isolate the city from the NRA's southern lines of communication. However his counterattack failed horribly and he was yet again forced to withdraw his exhausted and demoralized men north, now above the strategic Huai river valley. The NRA were quick on their heels, continuously outflanking and circled them. In November as Kuchen fell, Sun Chuanfangs forces found themselves shoved into the northernmost portion of Jiangsu with their backs against some rugged hills. Further north, the Dogmeat General stood ready with 150,000 Shandong soldiers. Although allied with Sun Chuanfang, they were still bitter rivals. Zhang Zongchang chose to only collaborate with Sun Chuanfang when under attack by the NRA. Sun Chuanfang certainly had a difficult time coexisted with Zhang Zongchang in Shandong.  To the northwest, over the summer as the NRA had pulled back south during the battle of Lungtan, Feng Yuxiang proved a great diversion for the NPA forces when he attacked Honan. Feng Yuxiang had been promised by Chiang Kai-Shek a ton of money and vital war materials, thus he remained loyal to Nanking after the generalissimo's departure. General Ho Yingqin's 1st Army, the 9th army, Xia Touyins new 10th army and Ho Yaozu's 14th army were advancing towards Xuzhou in Jiangsu. 40 miles west, Po Wenwei's 33rd army was advancing north to join up with Feng Yuxiang to assault the western approaches to Xuzhou. On December 12th the NPA tossed a counter attack down the rail way from Xuzhou. The force consisted of 60,000 men under Zhang Zongchang and 10,000 from Sun Chuanfang. These two guys working together was a recipe for disaster. Zhang Zongchangs white russian armored trains were the spearhead, supported by an air squadron also flown by white russians, some Japanese, French and Chinese pilots. The aircraft strafed NRA positions, proving themselves deadly and something for which the NRA had no answer to. Zhang Zuolin had greatly expanded the Fengtian army's capabilities during the Anti-Fengtian war. Though not enormous in number, the Fengtian held a decent airforce, had quite a few Renault tanks, but most importantly had the vast numerical superiority in heavy artillery and men. By December the 14 however the NPA counterattack began to ground to a halt, literally after 2 days of combat. The NRA then turned up the pressure from the west and south, erecting a siege against Xuzhou. The city would fall on the 16th as Sun Chuanfangs entire front along the east-west Lunghai railway collapsed. This inturn forced the NPA to perform a hasty retreat over the border hills into Shandong, where they would dig in for the winter months. Do not forget the NRA consisted almost entirely of southern chinese, who historically have never done well in winter, especially against northern Chinese. The NPA understood this advantage and would make the best possible of it.  The Zhang Zongchang Sun Chuanfang joint operation was an abysmal failure, however the unity in the new KMT government had its own problems. Just as soon as the NRA had dealt with Tang Shengchih, a disgruntled element of the NRA decided to break off. The September government was lacking stability, honestly they lacked a generalissimo. Neither Wang Jingwei or Chiang Kai-Shek were present, the only two men who had real popularity amongst the masses. The only form of leadership now was loosely held by the Guangxi generals at Nanking. Meanwhile Wang Jingwei had angrily moved back over to Guangdong where he began winning over some of the generals in Guangzhou. He was rebuilding a powerbase, seeking to recapture the KMT revolution. In dire need of support, Wang Jingwei became a lot more flexible with his politics. His image had already been stained by communism because of his former ties to the CCP and Soviet Union. He began publicly telling people in March that he had been naive and that Chen Duxiu had seduced him with talk of CCP cooperation without conditions, but in fact it was Chiang Kai-Shek that was correct about the communists. Wang Jingwei was now colluding with Zhang Fakuei who retained some troops that had fought the communists in Jiangxi and Guangdong. There was also Xue Yue's division and Li Fulin's 5th army, Guangxi natives. However Wang Jingwei had not been the only one trying to build a powerbase in Guangdong, so did the CCP. Zhang Fakuei's primary job was to eliminate the pervading influence of the CCP in Guangzhou, they had never stopped creating mass organizations. Zhang Fakuei's troops continuously rounded them up and kept an eye on the Soviet consulate at all times. The KMT were very well aware, most of the time it was the Soviets pulling the strings, ordering CCP members around. During November, the CCP planned to seize Guangdong as their new revolutionary base. Through the Soviet consulate, Joseph Stalin sent orders in mid November, to step up armed activism throughout China. This would start with creating and controlling labor and peasant associations. The CCP played upon the low standard of living and economic instability of warlord era China, hoping to appeal to the masses for a Soviet communist style system rather than what the KMT proposed. Here is a taste of some of the slogans they wrote on placards and proclaimed in major city centers: Raise the Soldiers' Pay to 20 Silver Dollars! Food for the Workers! Land to the Tillers! Knock Down the KMT and the Warlords! Kill All the Country Bullies and the Evil Landlords! Confiscate the Capitalists' Homes and Give Them to the Rebel Masses! All Authority to the Workers, Peasants, and Soldiers! At one point Zhang Fakuei moved his anti-communist operations over to Hong Kong as they were seeing major strikes. By late november some Red Militia, including “dare-to-die” units were being gathered by the CCP. In December, just as Wang Jingwei thought he was grasping at becoming politically relevant again, Guangdong fell into chaos. During early December a large number of strikes sprang up, especially within Guangzhou. Then the CCP attempted a coup. The ringleaders were Zhang Tailei, the ex leader of the Hong Kong Strikers and Su Zhaocheng, the ex minister of labor at Wuhan. They led a Red Militia into the streets of Guangzhou, during the early hours of December 11th. The communists began by first seducing members of Zhang Fakuei's army. When the morning light came up, their dare-to-die units and armed workers stormed police stations, grabbing their rifles, machine guns and armored cars. They also took city buses and trucks to spread red militia throughout the city who quickly stormed KMT governmental buildings, the central bank with its large silver reserves and barracks for more arms. To suppress resistance the CCP began executing officers during the street fighting, marked and burnt down homes of KMT officials. Most of the communists were rural peasants, hoping their actions would jolt the urban workers to join them. Charging down hills of Guangdong, remnants of the Red Army that had been fighting and retreating after the Nanchang uprising entered Guangzhou under Yue Tings leaderships. However bloody and successful the capture of Guangzhou made have been, it was certainly short lived. Outside Guangzhou, Zhang Fakuei, supported by Li Fulin's 5th NRA army, some river gunboats and those loyal to the KMT within the city outmanned and outgunned the communists. Hammer and sickle flags were torn down by December 14th after only 4 days of communist takeover. The anti communist bloodbath that followed, rinsed clean even the Soviet collaborators from the consulate. Wang Jingwei professed to all he alongside his KMT leftist colleagues were guiltless of the CCP coup. A few days prior to the uprising at the plenary session preparing for the KMT 4ths congress set for January, Wang Jingwei surprised all by calling for Chiang Kai-SHek to be invited back to his post as Commander in Chief. The Chiang Kai-Shek loyalists sprang on the issue. Chiang Kai-Shek added his voice into the scene by calling for a cessation of any relations with Moscow, Nanking implemented that straight away, closing all the Soviet consulates within KMT territories and kicking the Soviet diplomats out.  Now it seems Wang Jingwei was desperate to get back into the fold, so he was trying to play for a position as the head of the civilian KMT government while Chiang Kai-SHek controlled the military. However the Guangzhou uprising stained him with further communist suspicion. Yet again it seemed the curtains were falling down upon Wang Jingwei. On December the 17th he boarded a steamer bound for France. His ship would stop at Hong Kong, but he did not bother to step ashore. Like the Soviets, he was being kicked out of China, again. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The rivalry between the Wuhan and Nanking KMT governments had come to an end. A new September government unified the KMT, however they lacked any real leadership in the forms of Wang Jingwei or Chiang Kai-Shek. The Guangxi clique generals were trying to keep things together, but it simply was not the same. At some point someone would have to become generalissimo again. 

Last time we spoke about the invasion of Zhejiang. Chiang Kai-Shek kept the momentum going by invading Zhejiang after taking Jiangxi and Fujian. However Sun Chuanfang in desperation ran to an unlikely ally, Zhang Zuolin to form the National Pacification Army. Now the NPA would go to war with the NRA. The NRA also faced internal strife as strikes broke out in Guangzhou and Wuhan. After quelling the worker strikes, the NRA began to concentrate on the Zhejiang campaign performing strategic counter attacks against Sun Chuanfangs offensives. By early 1927 Sun Chuanfang's control over Zhejiang was being undermined by Zhejiang independence movement leaders who joined the KMT to overthrow him. Sun Chuanfang was served disastrous defeats, his armies began to rout with many plundering before they fled north. Those that still continued the fight fled for Shanghai, where Sun Chuanfang prepared to make a last stand to hold the NRA back before Zhejiang fell.   #113 The Northern Expedition Part 4: The taking of Shanghai & Nanking Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. The NRA east route army had concentrated around Sungchiang just in front of Shanghai. They made it seem they were preparing for a major assault on the super city, yet up the Yangtze, half of the NRA were secretly preparing an offensive directed against Nanking. If the NRA captured Nanking and its strategic Tianjin-Pukou railway line, Sun Chuanfang's forces south of the Yangtze would be isolated and cut off from reinforcements and supplies. On February 19th of 1927, Sun Chuanfang pulled his battered armies out of Zhejiang as he awaited reinforcements from Zhang Zongchang's Shandong army. Meanwhile the KMT called upon their agents and allies within Shanghai to foment disorder. Going back to November of 1926, KMT and CCP members within Shanghai had been assembling recruits together to strengthen their first united front. Shanghai held a large part of China's modern factory workers, numbering in the several hundred of thousands. They represented a considerable percent of the Shanghai population. Following the formation of the NPA, Shanghai unions began attacking Sun Chuanfang for bringing Shandong mercenaries into Zhejiang and strongly disagreed with his alliance with the northerners. They had real grievances with the northerners, because they had ties to foreign powers like the Empire of Japan. Those in Shanghai sought to break the chains of foreign imperialism and wanted more autonomy. From 1926 onwards many unions, particularly those directed by the CCP organized demonstrations against Sun Chuanfang and the NPA. By February of 1927 the anti-Sun Chuanfang movement really heated up. The National General Labor Union of the CCP had ordered some assassinations to terrorize the Chinese and foreign industrialists. To bring even more Shanghai workers under their influence and hurt Sun Chuanfangs hold over the city the CCP organized a political strike, similar to what had occurred in Hong Kong the year prior. A general strike in Shanghai was planned for February 19th and it would include the foreign concession factories. The strikers had 5 political and 12 economic demands. A major aim of the strike was to seize power through the use of the masses, even against a well armed regime like Sun Chuanfangs. The CCP hoped to direct large crowds of workers against Sun Chuanfang's police stations and garrison posts where they could seize their weapons to arm some workers corps. They had acquired quite a bit of experience during the Hong Kong and Guangzhou strikers when it came to arming workers. However the response of Sun Chuanfangs regime would be vastly different than the KMT in Guangzhou.  Sun Chuanfangs garrison commander at Shanghai responded violently and quickly. He dispatched broadsword carrying executioners and soldiers through the city grabbing and beheading any strikers on sight. Heads were placed on lamp posts at street corners and on spikes all around. Its estimated out of perhaps 100,000 to 350,000 workers who striked, the headcount ranged between 100-500. The CCP continued its efforts to attack police stations, but the general strike died out on the third day. In a form of retaliation the Shanghai workers held a mass trial and execution of at least one police officer. A new garrison commander was sent to Sahnghai, Pi Shucheng in an effort to reinforce the city. By the point he showed up the CCP gave up and told the strikers to get back to work to end the bloodshed. What became known as the second shanghai uprising failed to achieve much.  Despite its failure, the second uprising in Shanghai displayed disunity under Sun Chuanfangs rule. By mid February Sun Chuanfangs Shanghai navy had begun to act suspiciously. On the 22nd as the CCP led sorties against the Shanghai Police, shells from the warships Chienkang and Chienwei fll over the Jiangnan arsenal. Thinking not much of it, Sun Chuanfang blamed a few young officers for the bombardment and gave his Admiral Yang Shuchuang a demerit. Sun Chuanfang was of course reluctant at this point to penalize his subordinates for fear they mutiny. The bombardment did not knock out the aresnal but a fire began mysteriously on the 28th blowing up 40 crates of artillery shells. The uprising did little to weaken Sun Chuanfangs hold over Shanghai, so the NRA shifted strategy. Over in Hangzhou, NRA units advance to the Sungchiang front while NRA units in Jiangxi advance downriver towards Nanking. The 6th and 7th NRA armies advance along the Jiangxi-Anhui border as the eastern route command dug in near Shanghai. Back in December, at the Nanchang conference Chiang Kai-Shek and Borodin had managed to smooth the tension between the CCP and KMT. Borodin agreed to curtain some union disorder that were interfering with the war effort so the First United Front would not collapse. However within the new conquered territories, many that contained enormous industrial potential, strikes and labor violence kept breaking out. This was quite dangerous for the stability of the NRA as they performed the northern expedition. But from the CCP point of view they were simply organizing the enormous untapped power of Chinese workers. The CCP began to really grow in power at Wuhan and were becoming less cooperative with Chiang Kai-Shek. They believed Chiang Kai-Shek was dependent and at the mercy of Soviet aid. They also believed, since he had left Guangdong, a more malleable KMT military figure would better suit their interests. Thus a concerted effort was made to replace Chiang Kai-Shek. You could call it a anti-Chiang movement sprang up and it was taking an effect on the Northern Expedition. Chiang Kai-Shek had just wired the Wuhan administration three times for funds to pay some disgruntled 7th army troops. The administration at Wuhan created by a joint council of the party and government, by insistence of Borodin, were generally compliant to Chiang Kai-Sheks demands. One of their leaders was Xu Chen, the current minister of justice. According to a group close to Wang Jingwei, it seemed the CCP, Chiang Kai-Sheks inner circle and the new Joint Council at Wuhan between January and February of 1927 were becoming quite dependent on Soviet advice. Early in January the CCP were attacking Chiang Kai-Shek with propaganda aimed to make it seem he was in bed with other warlords and the Japanese, thus a betrayer to Dr Sun Yat-Sens movement. Xu Chen the current commander of the 8th NRA army became a potential replacement for Chiang Kai-Shek, but the CCP were still afraid to risk open strife with the KMT. Borodin and CCP leaders like Mao Zedong were encouraged by the CCP membership growth in the countryside and within military units around Wuhan. As the NRA advance through Hunan, CCP membership increased as they spread through peasant associations. It was a similar case in Hubei. The Hunanese commander of the 2nd NRA army brought up the issue at a KMT meeting warning his colleagues “not to neglect the dangers of internal strife. Many of our members have become sidetracked by… ideas … not indicated in Sun Yat-sen's instructions,… not belittle the enemy. Our enemies are now uniting together and gathering to attack us. We should concentrate the power of the Party and obey its orders strictly regardless of our own opinions.” Chiang Kai-Shek of course was not oblivious to the danger all around him. He launched his own sort of counterattack. He began claiming the CCP strategy and those who were following them, threatened the all-class union of the KMT. On February 19th he urged a KMT audience during a speech to “look to … the doctrines of Sun Yat-sen and nothing else.” The anti Chiang Kai-Shek sentiment was felt in crowds at Wuhan. On February 24th, a crowd of 50,000 assembled at the party HQ parade ground where they made fiery speeches against Chiang Kai-Shek and against the Northern Expedition. “All we have seen is military power, but no Party power; individual will but not Party will…. Old degenerate counterrevolutionaries have caused these pathetic facts of the Party. That is why we must… knock down the feudal influences.” After this several people began chanting “Down with the Old and Degenerate!” Then another man made a speech stating “a few individuals could not do the work…. Now the old, rotten feudal thinking members manipulate the KMT, we must therefore knock them down.” Then the chant turned to “Down with Chang Ching-chiang,Oppose the Military Dictatorship.” Then the head of the NRA's Political Departments, Teng Yenta stated “democratic centralization was the way to achieve the ideals of the Three People's Principles, but now our leadership has been occupied by the old, ignorant, and the incompetent …, and we must overthrow personal dictatorship … and bring the military under control….” Chiang Kai-Shek was enraged by all of this of course and he refuted the charges made against him. He singled out Xu Chen who had just made himself chairman of the new Joint Council without KMT party authorization. Chiang Kai-Shek began a little investigation and concluded it was Borodin's doing so he telegrammed Moscow on February 26th requesting Borodin be sent back to the USSR. The next day at a KMT meeting, Chiang Kai-Shek told his colleagues he felt despite the fact the NRA advanced into new territories, while the people saw them as KMT members, they only heard propaganda from the CCP. By March the anti-Chiang cabal now sought to replace him with General Tang Shengchih, the Hunanese defector made commander of the 8th NRA army. According to one soviet report written on the 5th of March, Tang Shengchih was seen to be much more dependent on Soviet aid and a lot more cooperative in helping the anti-chiang effort amongst the other generals. A new anti-chiang alliance would require the support of other high ranking generals such as Chang Fakuai new corps, Chen Mingshu's 11th army, Chu Peitehs 3rd army and the 9th and 10th armies. According to the same Soviet report, Tang Shenchih managed to turn Li Tsungjen against Chiang Kai-Shek and this hampered Chiang Kai-Sheks ability to obtain funds from Wuhan to pay Li Tsunjens 7th army.  Spring of 1927 brought more disunity to the First United Front and thus hurt the Northern Expedition. Although the NRA were clearly on a roll in Zhejiang and Fujian, their progress north of Wuhan and downriver from Jiangxi lost steam. Chiang Kai-Shek still held confidence of the men in the eastern route army concentrating along the Jiangsu-Anhui border, but their offensive was also halted. In southern Honan where the NRA were facing the remnants of Wu Peifu's army, winter's chill was beginning to slow down the expedition.  The offensive kicked back up with a bunch of defections amongst Sun Chuanfang's forces in Anhui. Chen Tiaoyuan, Sun Chuanfangs commander in Chief for his Anhui forces, had became dissatisfied with him and how he was ruling the 5 province empire…which I guess is now more like 2. Chen Tiaoyuan was demoralized, who could blame him. Back on December 5th of 1926, Chen Tiaoyuan began secret negotiations by dispatching some of his subordinates such as Fan Shao-kai over to the KMT hoping to defect and gain a decent position. Simultaneously, Sun Chuanfang maintained hope of holding his frontline in Anhui by promoting subordinates. Sun Chuanfang appointed Chen Tiaoyuan to be the director of defenses over the province on December 21st. On February 20th of 1927, one of Chen Tiaoyuans divisions, led by Liu Paoti defected to the NRA when he was guarding a strategic pass known as the Chimen gateway. This was a 5000 foot high range leading into Anhui. Now the NRA held a mountain side door leading directly into Anhui. The mountain range in question also happened to be the last natural barrier that Sun Chuanfang's troops were utilizing to defend the lower Yangtze area, including of course Shanghai. After that Chen Tiaoyuang tossed the towel to the inevitable and defected to the NRA. Chen Tiaoyuan proved his defection by turning his defensive sector along the Yangtze over on March 2nd. He brought with him the mixed brigade of Wang Pu and elements of the Hunan Army led by Yue Kaixin. The NRA proceeded to advance over the Yellow Mountain and down it to seize Taiping in Anhui on march 3rd. Pretty much unopposed the NRA marched upon Nanking through Anhui taking several routes. By March 17th, the 17th Division of Cheng Chens 6th NRA Army had advanced 200 miles downstream using river steamboats and was only 70 miles away from Nanking. Over the north banks of the Yangtze the NRA formed a spearhead and thrusted it into the soft midsection of the north-south railway. By mid march the NRA captured Hofei in northern Anhui. At this point Sun Chuanfangs relationship with his navy was greatly waning and he was becoming more and more dependent on the Tsinpu railway as an escape option to head north rather than via the sea. Thus March of 1927 saw the NRA effectively begin trapping Sun Chuanfang into the Yangtze delta around Shanghai.  The NRA southern forces were now advancing out of Zhejiang into the delta region. One pincer was heading north along the shores of Lake Tai aiming for the Shanghai-Nanking railway at Changzhou. Meanwhile in Anhui the 6th army was attacking Wuhu on the 6th of March. Anti-foreign disorder broke out at Wuhu as NRA political agents raillied crowds of civilians and soldiers to mob the foreigners maritime customs office and clubhouse. This sent the foreigners to flee downriver to Shanghai by ship carrying more tales of anti-foreign abuse with them. The eastern route force facing Shanghai was met with heavy artillery bombardment as more and more NPA troops from Shandong arrived. Several NRA attacks north of Shanghai against railway links were made, threatening the city's defensive capabilities. By mid march many forces defending Shanghai began evacuating for Nanking. On March 15th the eastern route army had its first major breakthrough over the hills that overlooked Lake Tai. NRA forces managed to outflank the enemy artillery placements and erected a real blockade by march 16th. Now a new NRA pincer moved west against Lishui, 40 miles from Nanking. Along the east shore of said lake, the NRA was effectively blocked by Shandong troops who held an advantage in heavy artillery. By mid march many Shandong reinforcements arrived at Changzhou along the Nanking-Shanghai railway, but were simply turned back to Nanking. Not a good look.  From Wuhu the NRA kept the advance towards Tangtu which was outflanked and captured on the 17th, while the east route force took up a position 50 miles from Nanking on some ridges where Sun Chuanfang had once headquartered. On the 18th, north of the Yangtze the 7th NRA army just captured Hofei and its railway link. The delta area's defenses were falling apart everywhere one looked. The Dogmeat General took one look and ordered a general withdrawal of all the Shandong forces from the Shanghai area to some positions north of the Yangtze. With that Shanghai defenses fell apart. Over at the Sungchiang front the forces of Pi Shucheng retreated into the city towards the railway station, but did not high tail it to Nanking despite being ordered to do so. According to foreign and Chinese journalists, Pi Shucheng had been waiting for the opportune moment to defect to the NRA and had been secretly negotiating to turn Shanghai over. Thus it seemed the NRA had managed to capture the city without provoking the foreigners. On the 20th the NRA managed to flank the railroad artillery position still manned by some White Russian forces. They managed this through more defections, this time from Shanghai police. The Shanghai police controlled the waterways and aided the NRA in navigating them so they could advance more rapidly. Simultaneously Suzhou, Changzhou and Henglin were captured. Sun Chuanfang was receiving zero aid from the sea for over a week by this point as AdmiralYang Shuchuang had taken the fleet upriver to join the NRA's river fleet. Of course Admiral Yang Shuchuangs defection had been in the works for well over a year, but his timing could not have been worse for Sun Chuanfang. On March 21st a bloodless seizure of Shanghai proceeded. Now going back to our conversation about the anti-Chiang Kai-Shek movement, there had been a lot of development during this time period. In January of 1927, Wang Jingwei with his left wing allies, members of the CCP and Borodin had transferred the seat of the KMT government from Guangzhou to Wuhan. On March 1st the KMT government then reorganized the military commission and placed Chiang Kai-Shek under its jurisdiction with the secret intent to arrest him. As the NRA was about to storm Shanghai, a major opportunity presented itself to the CCP. Most of the Northern Chinese defenders still stuck in Shanghai were simply looking to surrender. Thus on March 21st, CCP leaders Zhou Enlai and Chen Duxiu launched an armed uprising. The CCP seized weapons, created a general strike and seized most of the city. This caused many of Sun Chuanfangs soldiers to flee to the railway station or coasts, looting as they did. Major battle took place between armed workers and soldiers, causing fires and damaged to heavily populated areas of the city. For example in the northern suburb of Zhapei, armed workers burnt down 3000 homes. By the night of the 22nd Bai Chongxi's NRA troops were gradually occupying the city, however the general strike was disrupting their efforts. General Bai Chongxi' ordered the CCP to call off the general strike on the 24th, but for over 4 days 322 Chinese were killed and over 2000 were wounded. As the NRA consolidated their authority over the city, their top spokesmen, Chiang Kai-SHek, Ho Yingqin and Bai Chongxi tried to alleviate the foreign community who were ridden with frightened refugees in the international settlement. The settlement was a literal warzone, fitted with barbed wire, gates, marines and soldiers behind sandbag trenches and such. Very real and many false stories were spread of anti-foreign atrocities. The NRA put out notices stating “The purpose of the military operations of the Northern Expedition is to establish a nation governed by the people and to get rid of the warlords. Our army occupied Hunan, Kiangsi, Hupeh, Fukien, Chekiang, Anhui, and other provinces and the unification of the entire nation will be accomplished soon. The Party Army's success is the victory of the people…. In accordance with international morality we shall guard the lives and property of foreigners. We have occupied Shanghai by more than force. We request that consuls inform your nationals to carry on your activities as usual and order the marines not to misunderstand our motives and not to carry out means to obstruct our revolutionary cause'. And now we come to a large and confusing part of the story. At Nanking and Shanghai major events would unfold, seeing the end of the first United Front. After a few days, anti-foreign actions would follow the capture of Nanking requiring more and more public assurances from the KMT. The last demoralized rear guard crossed the Yangtze to get to the safer northern bank. By doing this, now the NPA's most southern position was the rail terminal at Pukou. The NRA vanguard entered Nanking on March 24th, with units of the 6th army and countless NPA Anhui defectors alongside them. Chiang Kai-Shek loyalists in the KMT then charged the head of the 6th NRA army's political department, a CCP member named Lin Xuhan with masterminding attacks upon foreigners. These attacks provoked the foreign powers to then attack Chiang Kai-Shek, diverting his attention from the northern expedition and weakening his authority over the new Wuhan government. Elements of the 6th army had stirred up anti-foreign attitudes amongst their troops and civilians within Nanking. Yet the foreign community in the city would go on to say the attacks they witnessed were not made by civilian mobs. Whatever motivations, the situation that unfolded at Nanking signified a giant breach of soldier discipline. For Chiang Kai-Shek to have permitted such actions to take place was inconsistent with his strategy of avoiding any provocation upon the foreign powers. Yet over 25,000 Nanking refugees flooded over to Shanghai as 25,000 foreign marines and soldiers began defending the concessions, assuring the NRA they were ready for a fight. Going back in time somewhat, the March 20th coup was something akin to a patient zero. Back on January 3rd of 1927 elements of the KMT at Wuhan had triggered mobs to attack the British concessions until they gave back authority at Hankou and Kiukiang to the Chinese. Yet the KMT had never given such orders to do so. It seemed the CCP were pushing these actions. Between March 7th to the 17th, the new Joint Council at Wuhan was openly being defiant towards Chiang Kai-Shek and they held their first plenary session to work against him. They met with KMT leftists and CCP members and agreed to appoint CCP members, Su Chaocheng and Tan Pingshan as ministers; promoted CCP peasant and labour groups and dispatched three representatives to the Third Communist International to discuss China's role in the would be world revolution. It did not seem the CCP intended to keep their promise to the KMT about China not going communist. All of this authority at Wuhan undermined Chiang Kai-Sheks authority and those loyal to him. They immediately voted to take direct control of military funds which had been previously handled by the minister of Finance, T.V Soong, obviously considered a loyal supporter to Chiang Kai-Shek. In order to gain more influence in the NRA, the Wuhan guys began creating a parallel military chain of command and recruited CCP members into major officer positions. They hoped such actions would see more military types defect over to their cause. Now by this point the NRA really had become a giant beast. When the northern expedition launched in July of 1926 the were 8 armies, by March of 1927 they were now 40. Wuhans fiscal and political control over said armies would clearly undermine and probably be capable of getting rid of Chiang Kai-Shek, so it was a no brainer to attempt seizing them for the CCP. The Wuhan cabal hoped to incorporate some of the new armies, made mostly of defectors, whose alliances were probably flimsy to be under their control. Chiang Kai-Shek tried to counter these attacks, but anything he did would be seen as censorship or anti-communist, thus shattering the first united front, from which he still depended….or did he?  Now technically the Wuhan Cabal was only able to do what they were doing because leading KMT figures were not present such as Chiang Kai-Shek and Wang Jingwei. Thus lesser members like Xu Chen and Teng Yenta were able to make some big decisions. Both men were CCP aligned and worked to abolish Chiang Kai-Sheks posts that he held such as ministry of the military which was replaced by the Wuhan Military council. The Wuhan cabal was able to reduce Chiang Kai-Sheks role as commander in chief and give various tasks to other military commanders. Likewise the military education programs at the KMT academics removed Chiang Kai-Sheks supervisory role, depriving him of obtaining the loyalty of the new junior officer corps. Appointment, promotions and dismissals of commanders would be done by the Military council, ie: Xu CHen and Teng Yenta. They first relieved Chen Mingshu, a known Chiang Kai-Shek loyalist and replaced him with a Moscow certified star Tang Shengchih. It became very obvious what they were trying to do. Thus as the Wuhan cabal tore apart Chiang Kai-Sheks authority piece by piece, the NRA's war against Wu Peifu and Sun Chuanfang began to collapse. Without a high degree of coordination and leadership, the NRA was finding it difficult to fight the numerically superior NPA forces. In March of 1927, Wuhan proclaimed all regulations ordered by Chiang Kai-Sheks HQ to be nullified. This meant although he retained authority over troops at the frontlines, Wuhan now claimed authority over all the other troops. All of these attacks upon Chiang Kai-Shek caused massive confusion in the ranks. Many within the KMT believed and rightfully so that the CCP was trying to take leadership over the movement. As the northern expedition took the NRA into Jiangsu, the momentum of their previous victories had pushed them across the Yangtze. This was heavily aided by the recent Shanghai Navy defectors who eased the crossing using their vessels. Those already operating north of the Yangtze such as the 3rd, 7th and 10th armies were pressing past Hofei towards Pengpu by early April. Pengpu was the capital of Anhui, forming a sort of bridgehead over the Huai river with a railway depot for Zhang Zongchang's armies. Thus its capture would open a door to the invasion of North China. Yet the NRA's momentum died in confusion over which direction they were to take, because of the Wuhan cabal-Chiang Kai-Shek fighting, and their logistical support was falling apart. It seemed to all like the northern expedition might never make it to the north.  I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The NRA managed to seize the super cities of Shanghai and Nanking. The NRA now dominated most of south China and were about to begin invading the north, when internal problems arose. The CCP and Chiang Kai-Shek were not seeing eye to eye and now a civil war seemed to be breaking out in the first united front.

Last time we spoke about the beginning of Chiang Kai-Sheks war against Sun Chuanfang. Chiang Kai-Shek had just conquered Hunan and Hubei, but this caused Sun Chuanfang to finally act. Chiang Kai-Shek's forces preemptively invaded Jiangxi to thwart Sun Chuanfangs two pronged offensive and any chance of him linking up with Wu Peifu. Sun Chuanfang was caught off guard, but managed to toss brutal counterattacks. However internal disunity amongst the 5 provinces led to a great weakening of Sun Chuanfangs campaign. In October, the NRA counterattacked, retaking territory and pushing Sun's forces back. Sun's position crumbled further due to rebellions in Zhejiang, where local leaders allied with the KMT. Despite setbacks, by November, the NRA's relentless pressure led to the capture of Jiangxi, significantly weakening Sun Chuanfang's hold and advancing the Northern Expedition. Meanwhile other NRA forces devastated Fujian's defenders and shockingly seized the province.    #112 The Northern Expedition Part 3: The Zhejiang Campaign Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. Beginning in November, until the end of 1926, both the NRA and their enemies took a sort of pause to regroup and figure out what was going on. Chiang Kai-Shek had carried out an offensive down the Yangtze and sought the blitzkrieg to carry on, but many within his ranks wanted to slow down and regroup. Meanwhile Sun Chuanfang received more peace offers and chances to join the KMT, but such a thing seemed too far beneath him. With Jiangxi and Fujian lost, Sun Chuanfang instead turned to an unlikely ally. In a very, the enemy of my enemy is my friend-like fashion he turned north to the Fengtian clique warlords. Now obviously, during the later half of the Anti-Fengtian War, Sun Chuanfang kind of held back. He had served the Fengtian a bloody nose and consolidated his 5 provinces, letting the northerners battle it out amongst themselves. Yet they just like he viewed the new southern menace as nothing more than a communist parasite swarming out of Guangdong. In a fit of desperation Sun Chuanfang took a train on November 8th in Nanking bound for Tianjin.  Once in Tianjin Sun Chuanfang met with some subordinates of Zhang Zuolin and Zhang Zongchang. They all reviewed the dire situation that befell Wu Peifu against the NRA in Hunan and Hubei. Sun Chuanfang fully disclosed what had happened to his forces in Jiangxi and Fujian. The northern warlords acknowledged the NRA was not like any other warlord force they had faced before. They were defeating armies much larger and much better armed, it confused them. Even those who had control over strategic railways seemed to be losing to the NRA. The Fengtian warlords had learnt some bitter lessons during their war with Sun Chuanfang and were not going to underestimate a potential enemy again. The Fengtian decided to form a new alliance to destroy the new red menace in the south. Despite the significant grievances between Sun Chuanfang and the Fengtian, particularly with Zhang Zongchang, he agreed to the alliance. Sun Chuanfang really had no choice after losing Jiangxi and Fujian with ill control over Zhejiang. As for Wu Peifu, he really was the unlucky warlord to be first in the crosshairs of the NRA. The commanders at the Tianjin meeting agreed to do what they could to reinforce him over in Honan so that he might be able to mount a counter offensive against Wuhan. They all also agreed, if Wu Peifu refused their alliance and aid, they would be forced to invade Honan to defend the north from the NRA. To reinforce Sun Chuanfang in the southeast, the Fengtian would fit the bill, but bill Sun Chuanfang they also would. In particular Zhang Zongchang was looking enviously at some of Sun Chuanfangs holdings as his province of Shandong was certainly impoverished, all because of his miss rule might I add. Zhang Zongchang had his eye on the gem of Shanghai and its robust black market, where many of his friends resided. Sun Chuanfang offered Zhang Zongchang a guarantee of 500,000$ in silver collected from the good taxpayers of Zhejiang and Anhui in return for reinforcements.  On November 24th, while Sun Chuanfangs forces in Fujian were being obliterated by the NRA, major agreements made at Tianjin were bearing results. Zhang Zongchang's Shandong troops were advancing south into Anhui aboard the Tianjing-Pukou railway bound for the Yangtze delta. They were 60,000 men strong, including some of Zhang Zongchang's elite White Russian units manning armorer trains with their specialized artillery. Within just a weeks time they were arriving to the battlefield under a brand new banner “the Ankuochün / National Pacification Army”. Zhang Zuolin came up with the name, the idea behind it was to make it seem like they were fighting a war to achieve peace against the evil red horde. Zhang Zuolin took the authority as commander in chief and appointed Sun Chuanfang and Zhang Zongchang as his deputy commanders with their HQ being in the Pukou-Nanking area. Zhang Zuolin proclaimed to the people of China he promised to save China from the red menace. The new National Pacification Army was a whopping 500,000 men strong.  Sun Chuanfangs portion of this grand army was of course the weakest link as he had just been battered by the NRA , but the Fengtian had not even had a chance to lift a thumb. Sun Chuanfang was still obsessed with retaining his 5 province empire and that desire would hinder his management of the war.  As Shandong troops arrived, they found not a grand welcoming from the local populations. They of course had terrible reputations and were the very people who had molested southeast China during the Zhejiang-Fengtian war. The CCP and NRA would exploit the southeast Chinese peoples hatred towards the northerners. Within Jiangsu and Shanghai, the Shandongers forced the locals to accept the Zhang Zongchang bank notes, literally worthless pieces of paper. The CCP and KMT began propaganda campaigns playing off this situation to tell the people the northerners were going to basically rip them all off. Sun Chuanfang could see exactly the sort of game the CCP and KMT were playing at and increased his persecution of them within his territories.  Now although Sun Chuanfang had certainly been weakened, Chiang Kai-Shek was not in good enough of a situation to follow up on his Jiangxi and Fujian victories. Chiang Kai-Shek had moved his HQ to Nanchang and was quite nervous about some looming issues within his ranks. He had already postponed the northern expedition back in July of 1926 when strikes broke out against Hong Kong. In November word spread that strikes were yet again occurring in Guangzhou, particularly at the Guangzhou-Hankou railway. The strikes at the railway were spreading up into Hunan. Over in Guangzhou the Cantonese workers at the Shihching and Mortar arsenals were striking as CCP members were agitating sailors and navy unions to join. The workers were demanding higher wages, clearly trying to take advantage of the fact the NRA were at the frontlines. Chiang Kai-Shek ordered the head of the NRA political department, Teng Yenta to travel from the front lines back over to Guangzhou to see if he could quell the madness. Throughout November a lull occurred, but it broke suddenly in December as strikers armed with pickets began closing up rice shops and banks. Reports came to Chiang Kai-Shek at the front, greatly worrying him about their war material situation. A lot of what they produced came out of Guangzhou and it seemed under threat. On December 8th, Chiang Kai-Shek made a speech, talking about how issues were coming about because of conflict within their First United Front. Following said speech, he appointed the garrison commander, Chien Tachuan to act as Guangzhou's police chief and pacify the city. Chiang met some KMT officials of the Central Political Council at Kuling, ordering them to help restrain labor violence and prohibit strikes in Guangzhou against strategic activities, such as communications, banks, and the supply of food and other “vital necessities. The Guangzhou strike situation then spread to Wuhan as workers began marching for higher wages and better working conditions. Because of this, by late 1926 Wuhan's lucrative arsenal industries outputs were declining. KMT leaders were freaking out over the situation as it looked to them all that another Guangzhou style workers uprising would occur. Word spread that a general strike in Wuhan was being planned on December 3rd, prompting Chiang Kai-Shek to intervene. The workers in general were protesting imperialist employers in the three cities; Hankou, Hanyang and Wuchang. They wanted higher pay and better working conditions, pretty standard stuff. Chiang Kai-Shek called together a meeting at Nanchang of various KMT leaders and Borodin. Chiang Kai-Shek proposed regulating the labor movement. Borodin recommended that the CCP corporate in restraining the union problems. Political department members of the KMT proposed disbanding 1000 armed pickets operating in Wuhan, the same way they did at Guangzhou. Hankou had seen some union violence and this deeply worried Chiang Kai-Shek who envisioned foreign marines storming shore from fleets of gunboats along the Yangtze to defend their nationals and property rights. It was eventually agreed some of the protestor leaders would be allowed to join the KMT to help its new government in Wuhan. It seems Chiang Kai-Shek had his hands quite full with internal problems.  Now back over the situation of Zhejiang. Despite the rather hilarious failure of Xia Chao's rebellion, if it could even be called such a thing. Sun Chuanfang's troops had taken a firm station in Zhejiang to maintain the peace. While the violence had cooled down, the sentiment of the people of Zhejiang had not. During late October, Sun Chuanfangs troops had swarmed Zhejiang trying to create a regime that would pacify and try to conciliate the provincial feelings. Zhou Fengqi had been transferred back to Zhejiang, mostly because Sun Chuanfang wanted to get him and his division out of the Jiangxi battlefield because he was doing a terrible job. Sun Chuanfang hoped his provincial Lt's would prove better defenders if defending their homeland. He also began a propaganda campaign, spreading word that the Cantonese forces were brutalizing the civilians everywhere they invaded. He said things like the Cantonese sought to break the traditional family system, that they were merely communists in disguise and such. Sun Chuanfang had also brought Chen Yi and his division back to Hangzhou and by October 31st, appointed Zhejiangs new civil governor after Xia Chao's head was cut off. Simultaneously, Sun Chuanfang kept his own personal retainer, Lu Xiangting, the military governor of Zhejiang. Now as Zhou Fengqi was heading back to Zhejiang, he came to Shanghai where he proclaimed to the pople that Sun Chuanfang had placed him in charge of defending the province against the Cantonese invaders. When he arrived to Hangzhou, Zhou Fengqi stated publically he had no sympathies for the KMT revolutionaries. Why he did this was because many rumors had spread that he had deserted in the Jiangxi fight to the KMT, which of course was 100% correct. On November 25th, Zhou Fengqi spoke publically about his dead mentor Xia Chao and stated “I would sacrafice anything for Zhejiang… neither the Northern Army nor the Southern Army were his friends and that any who invaded Chekiang automatically became his enemy ….” Now Sun Chuanfangs surprising move to ally himself to Zhang Zuolin had greatly shocked and scared the southeastern populations, the Fengtian northerners were of course the brutes who had hurt them. Thus Sun Chuanfang had become a double edged sword. He was saved by the Fengtian reinforcements, but his 5 provinces populations also deeply resented this. For those in Zhejiang who sought autonomy, it looked a lot like the KMT was a better option going forward. Chiang Kai-Shek was well aware of the situation and exploited it. The KMT began offering peace agreements not just to Sun Chuanfang, but to independent bodies in Zhejiang, such as the All-Zhejiand Association and even the All-Jiangsu association. KMT members in Zhejiang such as Tsai Yuanpei and C.T Wang. These two guys were responsible for writing the Zhejiang autonomous consitution of 1921. Within the safetey of the Shanghai international settlement they proposed a new federal system within which provinces would be able to handle their own affairs and be represented by a national assembly. In December of 1926 they began negotiating both with Sun Chuanfang over in Nanking and the KMT. Sun Chuanfang could see he was losing Zhejiang because of his alliance with Zhang Zuolin. Thus he made a tremendous gamble, he simply gave Zhejiang its independence. He did so hoping the province would continue to support him against the perceived red menace. He ordered Chen Yi to declare the province independent just before the KMT had planned to release some propaganda procliaming Zhejiang was under tryannical rule by northerners. Chiang Kai-Shek then tried to counter the situation by declaring the NRA would not enter Zhejiang if they roke ties with Sun Chuanfang and no northern troops were within their borders. Sun Chuanfang had already declared the northern reinforcements would defend Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui and of course this would mean tax hikes to pay for their protection. Yet again the Zhejiang revolutionaries assembled in the Shanghai international settlement, planning to create an independent provincial regime. On December 8th, they elected a provincial government committee, notably in a form favored by the KMT. Amongst the nominees were some of those responsible for formented the Ningpo rebellion of 1924. That smaller rebellion had seen some local gentry attempt self rule against the nothern warlords ruling them at Hangzhou. There were a few KMT members such as the ex-Zhejiang governor, Chiang Tsung-Kuei. Chen Yi and Zhou Fengqi were elected to the 9 man committee and the Guangzhou agent Ha Xulun who was working behind the scenes to direct matters against Sun Chuanfang. On the 11th december at Shanghai, Zho Fengqi decalred his defection to the NRA in a true modern day politician like fashion. His declaration of course added fuel to those wishing to break with Sun Chuanfang. He soon set up a new HQ at Quzhou and was promoted to commandr of the 26th NRA army. The KMT then descended upon Chen Yi, trying to bring him into the fold. The provincial assembly chairman and head of the Hangzhou chamber of commerce both proposed forming their autonomous state as part of the KMT and pushed Chen Yi to jump aboard the wagon. Chen Yi traveled to Hangzhou and Nanking trying to see what kind of deal he could land, ever an opportunist. Sun Chuanfang refused to move his troops within Zhejiang at Chiahsing as Zhou Fengqi had just joined the enemy, and now he heard word the NRA vanguard had penetrated the province. On the 17th Chen Yi defected to the NRA making his division the 19th NRA army and received promises from Chiang Kai-Shek he would get a nice cushy position in Zhejiang once the war was over. In the 19th the Shanghai group announced the official independence of Zhejiang from Sun Chuanfangs 5 provincial empire. They were now a autonomous province and would: “1) implement self-government for Zhejiang with provincial personnel; 2) oppose militarists who might seek to carve out their own “autonomous” areas; 3) make public the provincial government affairs; 4) subordinate the Zhejiang military to the Provincial Government; 5) provide for the civil freedoms of assembly, press, organization, and speech; and 6) abolish all unconstitutional taxes.” These terms were delivered to both Sun Chuanfang and Chiang Kai-Shek. Now despite doing all of this, the Zhejiang movement was by no means unified. Many of the gentry and military classes were not onboard because the NRA did not have a strong presence in the province. There was also of course Sun Chuanfang collaborators, the type of men who had received good positions from him. Many also rightfully feared Sun Chuanfangs wrath. Zhou Fengqi turned tail immediately from defending Hangzhou and sought the safer refugee of Quzhou. The NRA at this point were still preoccupied with consolidating their gains in Fujian and Jiangxi thus all they really had for Zhejiang at the moment was a vanguard.  In response to the situation Sun Chuanfang assembled his four best divisions along the Zhejiang border. He then formed an agreement with his NPA allies and subordinates in Jiangsu and Anhui to guard his flank as he tossed the kitchen sink into Zhejiang. In a fashion very typical of Sun Chuanfangs military style, he performed a lighting advance. His field commander, Meng Chaoyueh brushed aside Zhejiang divisions from the valleys all the way to the Jiangsu border. The lightning offensive was maintained throughout January of 1927. It seemed to all Sun Chuanfang had succeeded in taking back Zhejiang by force in a quick masterstroke. Within mere days of the offensive, Chen Yi was captured and replaced. Meng Chaoyueh's forces advanced upland, but then ran into the 26th NRA army, reinforced with elements of the NRA vanguard force who had popped out of the Fujian border. Over at Quzhou the NRA dug in, providing something akin to a bridgehead from Fujian into Zhejiang.  Another force under Sun Chuanfang advanced against Chen Yi's 19th NRA army eastwards along Hangzhou Bay's southern shore. At the Tsao River Sun Chuanfangs men found the rebels short on ammunition and served them a crushing defeat around Chuchi. From there many scattered through the southwestern hill side until they found their way to Quzhou. Over there the NRA were holding out under intense attacks until mid January. Within Sun Chuanfangs sink were elements of the Fujian troops who had defeated Zhou Yingren. These units went past Quzhou and seized Lanchi and Chinhua on the 10th. General Ho Yingqin in Fujian now faced the daunting choice of jumping into Zhejiang before the bridgehead closed. But the NRA enjoyed greater mobility and this allowed the 1st NRA army to rush over the border hills to aid the besieged Quzhou before Sun Chuanfang had brought over his heavy artillery.  On January 20th General Pai Qungxi took command over various NRA units and allied forces in Zhejiang to reorganize a battle plan. By the 29th he launched a counterattack out of the highlands. Using local guides who knew the terrain, the NRA marched through tributary valleys leading into the open plain of Qietang where the provincal capital of Hangzhou was. Now with more equal numbers the NRA engaged the enemy at Lanchi and Chinua fighting a brutal 3 day battle. This action turned the campaign around. Sun Chuanfangs forces lost commanding officers of a brigade, regiment and 3 battalions, alongsides 2000 soldiers. The NRA captured large hauls of firearms, but much mor precious, some heavy artillery. The early northern expedition lacked heavy artillery and these pieces would be put to great use. After the 3 day battle Sun Chuanfangs forces would never regain the highlands. Pai Qungxi then divided his force into two prongs aimed at Hangzhou. When Meng Chaoyueh tried to face the NRA through the main valley, but was out flanked. By February 11th around Tunglu, Meng Chaoyueh's forces were routed down the valley, They fled over to Fuyang where they tried to fortify new defensive lines using artillery, alongside some reinforcements, but utterly failed. The defeated greatly demoralized the northerners to the point Zhou Yingren lost complete control over his Fujian units. The soldiers retreated in a panic, breaking ranks as civilians from Fuyang to Hangzhou packed all they had and fled for Shanghai. Their towns were plundered by the soldiers who sought to grab what they could before running home to north china. The battle of Tunglu saw Sun Chuanfang pull his remaining forces towards Hangzhou. There they could mount a defense and feel more secure that the railway line led back to Shanghai and the north. The NRA forces pincer attacked near Hangzhou catching 8000 retreating soldiers who had been waiting on a ferry to get across the Chientang river. Sun Chuanfang tossed more reinforcements into Zhejiang, but they were no longer cooperating with his field commander Meng Chaoyueh who was already having problems controlling the Fujian units. Thus Meng Chaoyueh chose rather than making a stand at Hangzhou, he took his 20,000 men and retreated into Jiangsu. Another province in Sun Chuanfangs infinity gauntlet was being lost. General Meng Chaoyueh and the civil governor of Zhejiang fled for Shanghai on February 17th of 1927. Even the withdrawal out of Zhejiang was an unmitigated disaster as Meng Chaoyueh could not maintain his men's discipline. After advancing 50 miles to Chiahsing many had mutinied, seeking to sack the city. The civilians begged Meng Chaoyueh to force his men to leave them alone and move on, but he dared not try to halt his unruly men. Yet again this proved to be a crucial factor leading to the NRA's success. Where warlords armies went, they looted and molested the common people, while the KMT had strict policies of paying the local populations for what they needed and not to lift a finger upon the common people. The northern chinese tore down civilian barricades, placed by scared shopowners, ransacked them and carried off anything they could. When the NRA made it to Chiahsing after them, they were met with flags and warm greetings. On February 23rd the NRA had effectively cleaned Zhejiang of Sun Chuanfangs forces and allies, most had pulled back to defensive lines west of Shanghai. Their new defensive line was built around the Hangzhou-Shanghai railway line at Sungchiang. Xia Chao was dead, Chen Yi was captured, leaving Zhou Fengqi the last man standing from the triumvirate. Now he was the MVP Zhejiang leader who Chiang Kai-Shek would play upon to consolidate the province. He was quickly appointed to chairman of Zhejiangs military committee and became an official member of her new governmental committee. General Ho Yingqing assembled his forces opposite the Jiangsu border near Chiahsing, preparing for an offensive aimed at Shanghai. Meanwhile KMT members Tsai Yuanpei and Zhou Fengqi began setting up the new Zhejiang government while the NRA organized their offensive. Chiang Kai-Shek was reluctant to attack Shanghai directly. The super city had an enormous population, including countless foreign communities. The great powers had their largest concessions and investments in Shanghai and none of them were taking a liking to the KMT's anti-foreign propaganda. By February of 1927, there had been a plethora of antiforeign incidents that were making foreigners antsy, even those living cushy lives in Shanghai. A month prior at Hankou and Kiukiang, angry chinese mobs spurred by agitators within the KMT, or as Chiang Kai-Shek would tell it, CCP members had attacked British concessions. The British were only able to thwart bloodshed by handing some authority over the concessions back to the Chinese. Foreign residents in the Yangtze valley were evacuating en masse to Shanghai for protection and this helped circulate horror stories in the foreign community there.  It seemed clear to all the foreigners were preparing to defend themselves at Shanghai. It is actually quite reminiscent of the Taiping Rebellion or Boxer Rebellion. As angry mobs of local Chinese approached Shanghai, her foreign residents were banding together to mount and effective defense of the city. All foreign powers with investments in the Yangtze region began pouring what troops they had on hand and recruited volunteers to patrol and defend the city. Command of Shanghai's defenses for the foreign quarters fell to the British commander Duncan who took the Richard Hotel as his HQ. He now coordinated an international force nearly 10,000 strong, consisting mainly of marines and sailors. Duncan had formed an agreement with Sun Chuanfang to help defend a perimeter that expanded outside the foreign concessions. Refers spread around the local population that the British were requesting their government, the US and Japan launch a war against the NRA. Sun Chuanfangs situation got even worse as he had stirred up the foreign community, stating he could not guarantee their safety against the red menace approaching Shanghai. Sun Chuanfang worked alongside the international administrative office to round up and execute any revolutionary agents they could find within Shanghai and her concessions. On the night of January 10th of 1927, inspectors consisting of foreign volunteers who patrolled the streets of the concessions. All suspected revolutionaries were round up and brought to police stations in Sun Chuanfangs areas of control in the Chinese parts of Shanghai. The foreigners also made sure to prohibit any demonstrations or political activities. By late february as the NRA was massing across the border, Sun Chuanfang announced that he, the British and Japanese authorities within Shanghai were cooperating to stop chinese labor unions and workers from performing any mischief. This was followed up by a large round up of suspected revolutionaries. As Chiang Kai-Shek approached Shanghai, he was risking major retaliation from the great powers, who seemed to be aligning with Sun Chuanfang and the NPA. Chiang Kai-Shek risked opening a new front with a great power, perhaps more northern warlords as well. There was no way he could face more opponents and Sun Chuanfang simultaneously. So rather than risk a military confrontation with the Shanghai concessions, Chiang Kai-Shek chose another action. Over at Sungchiang, lying directly in front of Shanghai, the NRA east route army looked like they were preparing a siege against the city. Yet further up the Yangtze the NRA were actually preparing an offensive against Nanking. If Nanking and here ferries linked to the Tianjing-Pukou railway to fall to the NRA, Sun Chuanfang would be isolated south of the Yangtze. To be cut off from his vital railway line that supplied him with men and materials from the north was game over. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Chiang Kai-Shek's NRA just kept surprising the world winning enormous battles against the odds. With basically the rest of China's warlords banded together under the NPA, how could the NRA possibly continue the northern expedition? Would they not be crushed by overwhelming numbers, only time would tell. 

Last time we spoke about the beginning of the Northern Expedition. It was a decisive shift in Warlord Era China as Chiang Kai-Shek spearheaded his campaign to reunify China by invading Hunan. Despite staggering odds and limited resources, predominantly supplied by the Soviets, Chiang Kai-Shek relied on the weakness of his adversaries. Initial successes were achieved by exploiting political instability in Hunan, where local warlords were alienated from the populace. Chiang Kai-Shek strategically gained support from local commanders like Tang Shengchih, bolstering the KMT's forces. The campaign faced logistical challenges, such as difficult terrain and cholera outbreaks, but the KMT's superior strategy and local support led to victories along key river lines. By August 1926, the KMT had effectively weakened Wu Peifu's forces and secured Hunan, establishing a crucial base for further offQensives. However the KMT's actions had now drawn the attention of Sun Chuanfang who was preparing his own offensive.   #111 The Northern Expedition Part 2: The Jiangxi and Fujian Campaigns  Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. Chiang Kai-Shek's gamble into Hunan and then Hubei had paid dividends. Wu Peifu had retreated to his stronghold of Wuhan by the end of August. By September the NRA began a siege of Wuchang while capturing Hankou and Hanyang. Once Wuchang fell, Wuhan would be secured. Again for those a bit confused, Wuhan more or less refers to the conglomeration of Wuchang, Hankou and Hanyang, sometimes called the “three towns of Wuhan”. Wuhan was the first major objection of the Northern Expedition as it held an incredible arsenal, administrative structures for a government and other lucrative goodies. Now from the offset of the Northern Expedition, Chiang Kai-Shek and his subordinates chose a divide and conquer strategy. The first major warlord on their kill list was Wu Peifu. They chose him because of his powerbases proximity to Guangdong and to be frank, he was one of the weaker big warlords. To the east of course was Sun Chuanfang, who now reigned over 5 provinces and had a 200,000 strong army that had proven itself quite effective against the Fengtian forces. The NRA tried to both avoid Sun Chuanfang and offer some carrots to him. However Sun Chuanfang had no desire to join the KMT because he figured it would see him receive a lesser role than his current position. Yet the strategy of simply leaving Sun Chuanfang alone had worked thus far like a charm. Sun Chuanfang did not come rushing to Wu Peifu's aid, instead he dragged his feet. It was long enough for the NRA to take ⅔'s of Wuhan, now Wuchang was under siege and they were quite vulnerable. As reports came in, indicating Sun Chuanfang was preparing an offensive, Chiang Kai-Shek did I guess you can say the unthinkable.  Sun Chuanfang had kept his troops at bay, hoping to reap the benefits of the NRA-Wu Peifu war. As Wuchang became under siege, Sun Chuanfang finally decided to act, preparing a two pronged offensive against the NRA. Sun Chuanfang transferred 100,000 troops from Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui to aid the 20,000 troops stationed in Jiangxi, concentrated along the Nanxun railway and border with Hubei. He was going to use these forces to cut off the Wuchang-Changsha railway, easing the way for him to seize Hunan and Hubei, adding more gems to his thanos gauntlet. Meanwhile the rest of his army, mostly Fujian based, would invade Guangdong.  Unfortunately for him, he did not expect the unexpected, Chiang Kai-Shek preemptively ordered 50,000 men to invade Jiangxi. As Sun Chuanfang's forces were advancing towards Jiangxi, the NRA bolted into northern Jiangxi, descending into the lowland plain near Poyang Lake. Chiang Kai-Shek's men were now threatening the capital of Jiangxi, Nanchang and further south the major city of Ganzhou. It took the 1st Division of the 5th NRA army 3 days to take Ganzhou, while most of southern Jiangxi fell to other NRA forces. Their victories were sped up by the defection of Lai Shihuang, whose Jiangxi 4th Division was one of those Sun Chuanfang had deployed to defend the province from the NRA. Despite having a larger army, Sun Chuanfang's forces were by no means unified and were failing to work together. The NRA 6th army swept through central Jiangxi, smashing the dazed defenders of Nanchang and taking the city by September 19th. This central sweep was done to attract Sun Chuanfangs fresh troops pouring into northern Jiangxi, who were just getting off steamboats along the Yangtze. In the north along the Yangtze, the NRA offensive ground to a halt when Sun Chuanfangs vanguard engaged them. Sun Chuanfangs fresh troops hurled the NRA back towards the Hubei border with a fierce 3 day long counter attack. This prompted Chiang Kai-Shek to frantically reinforce them, seeing the Wuchang besiegers became a skeletal crew from the 10th to 16th. It was not a decisive victory for Sun Chuanfang, but it certainly was a setback for the NRA whose position in the Yangtze valley was vulnerable. Sun Chuanfangs men steamrolled from Nanking, upriver to Kiukiang in Jiangxi, and he came with them to personally direct the reinforcements. He landed on September 21st and he set to work ordering his forces to sweep the lowlands. His men recaptured Nanchang after a few days and most of Jiangxi fell back under his hand. Sun Chuanfang rounded up hundreds of soldiers, officials and teachers, suspected to be colluding with the KMT and had them executed. Many students, both male and female were being targeted based on their short haircuts, this was in a Russian fashion, a fad at the time. He had their heads impaled on stakes in public places around Nanchang and Kiukiang to warn any who would collude with his enemies. Sun Chuanfang presumed the students teachers were the culprits supporting the KMT movement and made sure to purge any found doing so.  The second half of September saw the NRA losing control of the situation, the Northern Expedition was in danger of falling apart.Sun Chuanfang's two pronged offensive was pushing the NRA deep into Hunan and Hubei, while cutting them off from Guangdong. Isolated into those pockets they would become easy pickings. Sun Chuanfang could also expect support from the battered Wu Peifu who was stuck in Hubei, things were not looking good for Chiang Kai-Shek. Chiang Kai-Shek was also facing issues with his base of Guangzhou as communists and peasantry groups were disrupting his logistical support. Chiang Kai-Shek telegraphed the KMT government in Guangzhou to settle the then ongoing Canton-Hong Kong Strike, that had erupted as a result of the May 13th incident. Chiang Kai-Shek's foreign minister Eugene Chen frantically began releasing multiple announcements to the media that thousands of ex-strikers were going to be sent to the front lines to support the NRA. With this implicant threat, 16 chaotic months of blockades and strikes against Hong Kong and the British suddenly came to a stop. Back over at the Jiangxi front, the fighting was growing more intense through late September. Several areas the NRA was defending were looking dire. By the end of the month, NRA intelligence was indicating General Chu Peiteh's 3rd Army were being driven out of central Jiangxi into Hunan and Wang Polings prestigious 1st Division of the 1st army had been badly mauled and were fleeing across mountains. Sun Chuanfang began trying to coordinate his offensive with Wu Peifu's trapped forces at Wuchang with an ingenious idea of sailing along Lake Tayeh from the Yangtze dikes to land due east of Wuchang. The landing happened on September 25th and initially it sent the NRA 4th army packing. The entire front began to crumble. Yet Sun Chuanfangs position was not entirely secure either. His 5 provincial armies were not as unified as the NRA and his subordinates' loyalties were not trustworthy. In fact his generals representing separate governments of Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Fujian were all clamoring for provincial autonomy. Many of Sun Chuanfangs administrators urged him to form a real federation providing provincial autonomy.  Both Chiang Kai-Shek and Sun Chuanfang were facing different issues, but both could see their authority crumble. Sun Chuanfang began negotiating with Chiang Kai-Shek, offering to halt his offensive into Hunan in exchange for a nonaggression pact between the KMT and his 5 provinces. Chiang Kai-Shek replied in a telegram that the KMT did not desire to enlarge the war and that if Sun Chunfang withdrew his forces from Jiangxi, the KMT would withdraw from the Jiangxi territories currently occupied. Sun Chuanfang then counter proposed he would halt his offensive at the Hunan border if the NRA withdrew all their forces from Jiangxi. Sun Chuanfang was somewhat bluffing Chiang Kai-Shek. While his counteroffensive was certainly impressive, he had actually reached his limit in late September.  In early October the NRA began pushing the enemy back. By the 5th Sun Chuanfang's thrust towards Wuchang had broken and his men were rushing back to the steamers to pull back to Jiangxi. On October 3rd the NRA severed communications via that railway at Tehan. After that the NRA reorganized and gradually pressed back down into the lowlands towards the port of Kiukiang and the railway station south of Nanchang. Sun Chuanfang tossed fierce counter attacks, recapturing parts of the railway, threatening the NRA 7th army's flank. On the 7th, a combined NRA attack tried to overwhelm a fortified hill position that dominated the railway line near Yanghsiu. However Sun CHuanfangs inner defensive lines held and by the days end the NRA had taken a severe beating for their efforts as they pulled back. In the south around Nanchang the battle raged back and forth. By mid-October the capital changed hands multiple times as both sides continued to pour reinforcements in the meat grinder.  The annual holiday known as republic day, commemorating the Wuchang uprising on October the 10th was a morale booster for the NRA forces. Fate would have it, that same day, Sun Chuanfangs relief columns failed to reach Wuchang to aid its desperate defenders. Some of the garrison units secretly negotiated with the KMT and opened the gates of the city to them. As the NRA stormed Wuchang, nearly 100 civilians were trampled to death as people fled the city. Wu Peifu unable to rally any support, simply bid his time over in Honan. For the later half of October the combat began to dissipate somewhat allowing the NRA to reorganize itself. Another major development emerged, Sun Chuanfang had major problems erupting in Shanghai. In fact Shanghai was only the most apparent symptom of the problem, in reality Zhejiang was falling into a full rebellion. During September and early October, certain units of Sun Chuanfangs Zhejiang army began telegraming him demands to block entry into their province or the other 4 provinces under his rule any assistance from the Fengtian forces. A leader emerged, the head of the All-Zhejiang Association “Chuan che kunghui”, named Chu Fucheng. Now Chu Fucheng had numerous connections amongst prominent Zhejiagnese, like Chiang Kai-Shek. Chu Fucheng began orchestrating a counter movement, just before the NRA began attacking Nanchang. On October 15th, his association sent a telegram to Sun Chuanfang, demanding Zhejiang forces fighting for him be returned to duties within their home province and that Zhejiang be given autonomy. Then the civil governor of Zhejiang, Xia Chao began a rebellion, supported by the KMT at Guangzhou.  Now historically, Zhejiang had been quite a loyal province during the late Qing dynasty, a time when many were calling for the end of the Manchu domination. During the warlord era, three leading commanders of the Zhejiang forces had conceded suzerainty over Zhejiang territory to powerful warlords outside the province. This caused a situation that saw northern chinese superiors constantly forced to make conciliations with Zhejiang independence movements that sprang up nearly every year since 1916. Zhejiang had never been successfully shaking over their northern overlords. Zhejiang military leaders such as Xia Chao, Zhou Fengqi and Chen Yi, had defected the the NRA and would become crucial to the KMT conquest of the province. All three of these men had gained political influence within the province through their military power, derived from the final decade of the Qing dynasty.  Shortly after Yuan Shikai's death, Xia Chao had led the small Wubei clique against its rival the Baoding clique led by Governor Lu Gongwang. As governor Lu Gongwang had the upper hand and did all he could to undermine Xia Chao who was leading the provincial police at the time. Xia Chao gradually brushed shoulders with Zhou Fengqi who worked together to try and overthrow Lu Gongwang. However the Anhui clique gradually took over the province, and appointed Lu Yongxiang as its military governor. Xia Chao had read the tea leaves and backed Lu Yongxiangs rise, thus maintaining his own power. After Sun Chuanfang took over the province in 1924, Xia Chao became his vice commander during some of the intense fighting against the Fengtian clique. However Sun Chuanfang became weary of the local officials power and began a isolated the most powerful, moving them around so they could not network together to overthrow him.  Xia Chao was unhappy with how Sun Chuanfang treated him and he began rallying the local gentry to demand provincial autonomy and the adoption of a new constitution. Sun Chuanfang responded by dispatching his subordinate Lu Xiangting to Hangzhou on January 25th of 1926 to be Zhejiangs new military governor. Lu Xiangting showed up with his forces and positioned them along every important route in the province. Thus the attempt to succeed was snapped in the bud. Xia Chao thus put on a smile and welcomed Lu Xiangting, tossing a party for him when he arrived to show his submission so he could maintain his position. In secrecy Xia Chao began building up police and security forces to start a rebellion and he had grown quite the private army, nearly 5000 men strong. Thus at this point Xia Chao held the position of chief of Zhejiangs police and civil governor over the province; Zhou Fengqi and Chen Yi were both divisional commander's over the 3rd and 1st divisions, who had received their positions through Xia Chao. After united the 5 provinces, Sun Chuanfang had transferred Zhou Fengqi's 1st division to garrison the capital of Nanking and Chen Yi's 3rd division to defend northern Jiangsu. These moves were specifically done to remove two the Zhejiangs largest provincial military units from their home areas. Sun Chuanfang likewise had moved over to his new HQ in Nanking and this prompted Xia Chao to presume he would rule over Zhejiang, but of course that did not happen. The year of 1926 produced good conditions for an uprising to take place in Zhejiang. Poor harvests in 1925 and 1926 led to an economic crisis which was exacerbated by over taxation by Sun Chuanfang. Then the NRA launched their northern expedition, led by the Zhejiangnese Chiang Kai-Shek. Once the NRA began their offensive, Xia Chao sent word to the KMT and formed a secret agreement with Chiang Kai-Shek. As civil governor, Xia Chao promised to officially defect if Wuchang fell to the NRA. The KMT likewise notified him their contact Niu Yongjian in Shanghai would create an uprising to help him against Sun Chuanfang. Thus Xia Chao conspired with the KMT to weaken Sun Chuanfangs rear area while the bloody battle over Jiangxi was at its height. Xia Chao was going to receive a new title under the KMT, equivalent to military governor, to be chairmanship over the provincial military committee. Back over in Guangzhou in early October the KMT congress approved the motion. Xia Chao sent word to Zho Fengqi, asking him to bring his 3rd brigade back to Zhejiang, but Zhou Fengqi could not risk such a maneuver, basically some of his most important units were literally hostages to Sun Chuanfang's Nanking HQ. Furthermore if he tried to advance to Zhejiang he would be moving directly through areas held by other units loyal to Sun Chuanfang. However on October 14th, some of Zhou Fengqi's reserve forces at Nanking did attempt to escape, but they were apprehended and disarmed, very few made it back to Zhejiang. Over at Xuzhou in northern Jiangsu, Chen Yi and his 1st division refused Xia Chao's appeal to rebel against Sun Chuanfang. Without these two men and their divisions, Xia Chao was facing a huge gamble with his little rebellion. He hoped the element of surprise would allow him to capture Zhejiang and possibly Shanghai as well. On October 16th, Xia Chao declared independence for Zhejiang and boarded 2500 men of his personal army aboard trains set for Shanghai. It was not long before Sun Chuanfang received reports via telegrams about what Xia Chao was doing. It is alleged Chen Yi may have leaked information about Xia Chao's rebellion to Sun Chuanfang hoping to receive a promotion. As Xia Chao's force of unseasoned armed policemen approached Shanghai they found the tracks blocked and were forced to march by foot against prepared defensive positions. The promised communist uprising in Shanghai failed to materialize as local CCP and KMT members were still debating how to go about creating a rebellion in the city. Many CCP members urged action, but they lacked sufficient arms to really do anything. After a very brief fight on the 17th within Shanghai's western suburbs the Zhejiang, Xia Chao was forced to pull out after forces loyal to Sun Chuanfang led a decisive counter attack. Xia Chao then frantically sent telegrams to Sun Chuanfangs subordinates claiming he had been deceived into defecting over to the KMT. Xia Chao then pulled his men back to Chiahsing. Meanwhile at Hangzhou crowds gathered demanding autonomy for the province.  On the 18th a mass meeting of political activists gathered at Hangzhou proclaiming independence and support for the KMT government in Guangzhou. Xia Chao publicly joined the KMT and soon many significant Zhejiang provincial officials joined. Xia Chao then accepted his new title as provisional chairman and took command of the new 8th NRA army. They were roughly 10,000 strong, completely untrained and poorly armed. Those loyal to Sun Chuanfang began fleeing northwards en masse as Xia Chao went to work appointeding new officials. Already forewarned of the insurgency, Sun Chuanfang transferred loyal troops from Nanking by rail to the Zhejiang border. By the morning of the 20th, his troops were advancing across the border and wrecking amateurish defenses established by Xia Chao's men near Chiahsing. Both sides had railway cannons, but Xia Chao's men proved inept at their use. Xia Chao fled, leaving behind 6000 untrained and hopeless outmatched troops. By the evening Sun Chuanfang had effectively crushed the Zhejiang independence movement as he rounded up hundreds of captured Zhejiang rebels, machine gunning them down at night. The streets of Hangzhou were looted by Sun Chuanfangs men who carried out terrible massacres upon the civilian population. Xia Chao had tried to flee into the Zhejiang hillside in his car but was captured quickly in a nearby town. He was promptly shot in the streets, decapitated and his head was sent over to Nanking where it was placed on a spike as a warning to others. Chen Yi was then appointed the new governor of Zhejiang, adding to the claims it was perhaps he who sold out Xia Chao. Meanwhile Chiang Kai-Shek had all his uncommitted troops tossed into the Jiangxi warzone. Included in these were the 4th class of officers recently graduated in October from the Whampoa Academy. It was certainly a baptism under fire for these young recruits. The reinforcements allowed the NRA to finally crack Sun Chuanfangs growingly demoralized forces. Sun Chuanfangs southern defensive line was the first to begin to sag under an assault by the 2nd and 14th NRA armies. The 14th NRA army by the way was a unit that recently defected from Sun Chuanfang. By October 27th Sun Chuanfangs forces in southern Jiangxi were in a full retreat heading north through Nanchang. As the battle carried into November, the NRA began to concentrate along the Xiu valley for an assault against the Kiukiang-Nanchang defensive line. Reinforced by the 4th Army's 10th division led by Chen Mingshu, the 7th army swept down the lowland and attacked Tehan. The enemy's defensive line crumpled there allowing the NRA to cut the railway line, isolated Sun Chuanfangs south near Poyang Lake. The NRA then captured the ports of Kiukiang and Hukou along the Yangtze, further strangling Nanchang. By the 9th, Nanchang fell and Sun Chuanfangs men were in a general retreat heading down the Yangtze valley. The momentum of the NRA offensive now saw them sweep through Jiangxi. Chiang Kai-Shek began sending agents to Sun Chuanfang again offering him positions with the KMT. During the Jiangxi campaign, both sides had deployed their best troops into what essentially became a two month meat grinder. The casualties would be the highest incurred during the Northern Expedition. According to some KMT records, the final weeks push to capture the Kiukiang-Nanchang railway cost the NRA 20,000 casualties and for Sun Chuanfang, nearly 40,000. Overall the campaign saw the NRA suffer 100,000 casualties. The NRA victory saw them acquire an incredible amount of war materials, greatly expanding their military capabilities. At Nanchang alone the NRA had suffered 4000 casualties, but took 15,000 prisoners and 20,000 rifles, enough to arm an entire corps. A major reason for the heavy casualties was the NRA lack of heavy artillery. Early in the summer of 1926, when the Northern Expedition had kicked off with the invasion of Hunan, the 1st Army led by Ho Yingqin assembled along the border of Guangdong and Fujian. Being one of Sun Chuanfangs 5 provinces, Fujian posted a threat to the NRA's flank if he entered the war. Ho Yingqin had concentrated his men at Swatow primarily to defend the border, but if the opportunity arose he could very well invade Fujian. In September once the Jiangxi campaign began, the 1st Army and Sun Chuangfangs Fujian allies began engaging in border skirmishes. Sun Chuanfang had actually already given orders to his main commander in Fujian, Zhou Yingren to invade Guangdong, but Zhou Yingren had dragged his feet until late September. Zhou Yinren had 4 armies under his command, over 30,000 troops in all. When he finally launched his attack, directed primarily at Swatow, Ho Yingqin had more numbers, but Ho Yingqin had prepared a formidable defensive line over rugged coastal terrain. Zhou Yingren's late offensive was quite characteristic of the poor coordination amongst Sun Chuanfangs forces, a weakness the NRA figured out early and exploited. In another tactical blunder, Sun Chuanfangs navy, operating off Fujian's coasts and riverways, was ordered to support Zhou Jinren's assaults with naval bombardment. The navy did so, but did not target Swatow where the majority of pressure was being exerted. The main reason for this would turn out that Sun Chuanfangs main admiral had already begun secretly negotiating with the KMT to defect. In late September Ho Yingqin's 1st army received a major breakthrough. A well-timed defection of two brigade commanders under Zhou Yingren, provided Ho Yingqin with vital intelligence on his enemy's troop placements and defenses. Ho Yingqin unleashed his offensive, driving a thrust directly into Sun Chuanfangs southern flank. They were attacking what was known as the coastal road that leads to Shanghai. On October 9th, in order to distract the Fujian forces already penetrating the border of Guangdong near Sungkou, Ho Yingqin had some of his troops cross the Fujian border to capture Yungting. By the 10th Yungting was seized as Sungkou was likewise taken by October 13th. Then Ho Yingqin counterattacked the rear of the Fujian forces threatening their lines of communication.  During the rest of October the 1st Army infiltrated the lightly defended back country of Fujian. The populations of these parts were mainly Hakka who had suffered under the rule of Sun Chuanfang. The Hakka people saw the invading NRA as salvation, because by this point they had established a good reputation for not plundering and molesting peoples where they went. Local militias known as “mintuan” began assembling, to a number possibly 10,000 strong aiding the NRA. The NRA welcomed them warmly into the ranks forming 3 Fujianese divisions, one independent brigade and 3 regiments. With the additional manpower, the NRA was quickly isolating and defeating Zhou Yingrens forces. One of the last fortified positions at Tingchou saw the recently arrived 14th army working in tandem with Fujianese allies to take it. As Zhou Yingren pulled back he lost 500 rifles and machine guns, some cannons, ammunition and many men, greatly bolstering the NRA. Zhou Yingren and his men found themselves in unfamiliar mountain heights, with their straw footwear quite unsuited to defend themselves against constant hit and run tactics by the local mintuan. Along the coast, Zhou Yingren's attempts to attack the ports of Chao'an and Swatow had ground to a halt and by October 14th his men had been pushed back to Changzhou. The NRA pressed its offensive simultaneously along the coastal road and down the interior valleys making it impossible for Zhou Yingren to coordinate a proper defense of Chanzhou. By November 8th Changzhou had fallen. Zhou Yingren pulled further back up the coast to Tung'an where he mounted a defense, but the NRA seized Chuanzhou, Xienyu and Yangtai in the meantime. From late September until December Ho Yingqin had conquered the southern part of Fujian, the most populated parts by far and was now pressing upon the walled provincial capital of Fuzhou, lying just across the Min River.  The defenders of Fuzhou were quite demoralized. Zhou Yingren pleaded with Sun Chuanfang to dispatch reinforcements from the adjacent Jiangxi, but he was preoccupied with fighting there and quelling the rebellion in Zhejiang. Zhou Yingren had to do best with what he had. Unfortunately for him, many in the Fujianese navy and maritime forces had not just defected to the NRA, but they added their cannons to shelling Fuzhou from the coast and Min river bank. Then the commander of the Fuzhou garrison, Li Shengchun, simply opened the gates to the city to the NRA. Fuzhou was surrendered basically without any real fight on December 9th. Trapped within the city, the Fujian governor screamed as he was arrested “I don't understand what has happened! Our forces and weapons were superior but you have captured me!” With just under 2000 troops left of his original 60,000, Zhou Yingren limped away to Zhejiang, Fujian and effectively fallen to the NRA. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Chiang Kai-Shek was utilizing every trick in the book to divide and conquer Sun Chuanfang's 5 province empire. As formidable as Sun Chuanfang was, he was losing in a battle of wits and now two of his provinces had fallen victim to the NRA. Could the warlord turn things around, or would he be forced to join to lose to the KMT?

Last time we spoke about the Anti-Fengtian War. The Anti-Fengtian War included two major theaters, the Zhejiang-Fengtian War and the Guominjun-Fengtian War. Within China's north, Feng Yuxiang brokered many sneaky deals with other warlords, trying to bring down Zhang Zuolin. One of these warlords was the disgruntled Guo Songling who led a brave or some would say idiotic rebellion, striking at the heart of the Fengtian empire. Feng Yuxiang failed to really exploit Guo Songling's actions, and Wu Peifu ended up joining Zhang Zuolin, simply out of spite for Feng Yuxiang. The war between the Guominjun and Fengtian soon fell apart for Feng Yuxiang as his forces were gradually dislodged from the Beijing area into northwest China. In an ironic case of deja vu, Zhang Zuolin and Wu Peifu found themselves again working together in Beijing. Little did they know, while they had been fighting in the north, it was the south where real danger lay.   #110 The Northern Expedition Part 1: Invading Hunan Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. So we have now come to a point where the warlord era takes a sharp turn. While we have been talking about countless wars between numerous factions, this is basically the end game as they say. I have no idea how many episodes it will take, so I apologize in advance, but we are going to be covering the Northern Expedition. I've probably mentioned it a hundred times by this point, the northern expedition. Dr Sun Yat-Sens brainchild, put simply build an army and march north to reunify China. Sounds kind of insane given the disparity in strength between whose in the north and south eh?  Facing what can only be described as staggering odds, the Kuomintang over in their separate government based out of Guangzhou suddenly began the most incredible military expedition of the warlord era. On the verge of disintegration with inadequate materials, most of which were coming from the Soviets, the military campaign was a gamble to say the least. Chiang Kai-Shek was ultimately counting on the weakness of his enemies rather than his own NRA forces. His Soviet advisors all told him not to do it, that it would be a terrible blunder. Now if you open up text books, read contemporary buzzfeed like artiles or watch youtube shorts, they would have you believe the northern expedition was this easy sweep northward led by a vanguard of Communist propagandist forces. In reality it was a series of hard fought battles where either side could have knocked out the other completely.  Now for most of its life, this Guangzhou based cabal that the KMT were in control of, had always been on the defensive. For the most part their secure powerbase was Guangdong and from there they would gradually conquer region after region, one by one. Something that can truly be said about the KMT, unlike the other factions, take the Fengtian or Zhili for example was its strong sense of having an ideology and its charismatic strong man at the head of its army. There was of course personal armies within the NRA, they were more or less a confederation, but the ideology of the KMT glued them all together. The other factions, perhaps excluding the Guominjun, simply did not have this. There was a shared concern that the political make up of China needed to be democratic and not devolve into the traditional or imperial autocracies that had plagued China for so long.  The first region Chiang Kai-Shek would target would be the rich middle Yangtze provinces of Hubei and Hunan, both of which had recently come back under the dominion of the Jade Marshal Wu Peifu. The route the NRA would take would be through Hunan and Hubei, down the Yangtze and up into the North China plain before finally marching upon Beijing. Ironically it was an identical path, one Hong Xiuquan once took when he rallied the Taiping against the Qing Dynasty. To first invade Hunan, Chiang Kai-Shek faced a rather daunting task. He did not have the military power to simply defeat the warlords of the province. He needed to exploit the political scene within it. Prior to the northern expedition, Hunan was dominated by northern warlords who were alien to the southern province. This of course antagonized the local populations creating an unstable political environment. This was something the KMT could manipulate. The KMT's nationalistic ideology was something that could potentially win over allies or weaken petty warlords rule. The KMT could exploit local interests and provincialism, self rule movements and such. When the KMT looked at Hunan they could see an ongoing power struggle. The Hunanese gentry class was being kept alive purely upon a desire for provincial autonomy. The governor Chao Hengti, a Hunanese native was subordinate to Wu Peifu, a Shandong native. By 1926 a conflict had emerged between 4 Hunanese divisional commanders. Chao Hengti favored Yue Kaixin the strongest of them controlling the Hunanese 3rd division. Chao Hengti sought to weaken the rest and used Yue to weaken the second largest 4th division led by Tang Shengchih.Tang Shengchih dominated southwestern Hunan and went on the defensive when he figured out the Governor and Yue were after him. The KMT noticed this over in Guangdong. Now political intervention in Hunan required personal connections. Within the KMT party membership were Hunanese civilians and military officials. This was one of the great strengths of the KMT as a clique, how their political membership transcended provincial or regional bases. Similar to the CCP, who had those like Mao Zedong working with the rural masses in Hunan, the KMT had ties to those at some of the top echelons of the province's power structure. One leading KMT figure who pushed for the northern expedition was Tan Yenkai who also had been the governor of Hunan after the 1911 revolution. He had always maintained an interest in Hunan and while in Guangdong had rallied a 15,000 men strong force of Hunanese troops, now renamed the 2nd army of the NRA. Prior to 1926 Tan Yenkai had already led one military campaign to retake Hunan for Dr Sun Yat-Sen. Back in 1924, when Sun Yat-Sen was trying to form a coalition with northern powers, Tan Yenkai launched a rather ill-conceived and short lived campaign, trying to bolster Sun's position in Beijing. Another commander in Jiangxi had pushed Tan Yenkai's force back into Guangdong and the failure provided quite the lesson, that one should also exploit the political realm alongside the military.  By spring of 1926 Chiang Kai-Shek and his top subordinates began planning an invasion of Hunan. Aside for the ex-governor Tan Yenkai, the KMT also had ties to Tang Shengchih. Liu Wentao and Chen Mingshu had been classmates of Tang Shengchih back at the Baoting Military academy in 1912. In 1925 they began reconnecting with the man, arranging a propaganda tour of the province. Liu Wentao, then a professor of political science, began touring China, lecturing all on the Three People's Principles of the KMT. Tang Shenchich went to one of these speeches and many of his men as well. There was also Pai Chungxi, another schoolmate of Tang Shenchih, the leader of the 7th Jiangxi Army of the NRA. The KMT also had loose connections with the hunan divisional commander Ho Yaotsu who was friends with Cheng Chien, a hunanese native and the commander of the 6th NRA army, primarily consisting of Hunanese troops. Now Chiang Kai-Shek began courting Governor Chao Hengti in June of 1926. He approached the man as a fellow member of the older Kuomintang party, pleading in a telegram that they should reunite into a new national movement. Obviously Chiang Kai-shek was making a powerplay to try and win over Hunan without shedding blood, he did not stop sending messages to the man even a week before the shells would fly. In southern Hunan at this time, Tang Shengchih was dominating the Hsiang valley with his 9000 man strong division. Tang Shengchih was a pretty intelligent player. He had numerous connections from his Baoting academy days and he managed to expand his domain to include 27 of Hunans 75 tax-collection districts. However by early 1926 Governor Chao had ordered all 4 Hunan divisional commanders to remit the local taxes they gathered to the provincial capital of Changsha. Obviously this was to centralize the power, and such revenue losses would strangle Tang Shengchih's power. So Tang Shengchih began talks with the KMT as early as february of 1926. It was a dangerous play, many had seen the numerous cases where inviting allies from another province only brought unwelcome guests. Perhaps Tang Shengchih believed by gaining some KMT support, he might be able to overpower Chao Hengti. But he was no idiot, he asked for KMT assurance he would fill the role of governorship and not someone like Tan Yenkai who indeed was lurking in the shadows. Tang Shengchih was given said assurance and signed an alliance treaty on February 24th. When Tang Shengchih unleashed his forces against Governor Chao Hengtai the same month, it was perfect timing. Wu Peifu was preoccupied in north China fighting Feng Yuxiang, thus the governor had no reinforcements. Threatened, Chao Hengti immediately fled Changsha, heading north. While this was occurring, Tang Shengchih labeled the governor nothing but a northern puppet of Wu Peifu. From February to March of 1926 Chiang Kai-Shek was still struggling for authority over the KMT to launch the Northern Expedition. Thus Tang Shengchih's rebellion had preceded it, and was done without KMT resources. Still feeling confident Tang Shengchih began marching into northern Hunan. Back over in Guangzhou, the KMT commissioner of foreign affairs notified everyone that Tang was doing this all on his own, none of their resources had reached him yet. When Tang Shengchih secured Changsha in mid march, a lot of the hunanese gentry began supporting his cause to be governor. Tang Shengchih's forces then overran Yochou along Hunan's northern border. Tang Shengchih had not yet accepted the governorship position, in march he was still looking to see how the KMT alliance would pan out. Yet in March tensions emerged within the KMT over the northern expedition The March 20th coup certainly expedited aid to Tang Shengchih. 5 Days after, Tang Shengchih accepted governorship and with his new position he proceeded to purge his political enemies from the provinces administration while installing his friends. By late March 1926, Wu Peifu finally responded to the threat to his hegemony over Hunan. He began threatening to return south with his Honanese troops. Now Wu Peifu's armies were still facing Feng Yuxiang at this time, but the KMT aid also had not come yet so Tang Shengchih paused. Tang Shengchih began playing down his ties to the KMT in responding to Wu Peifu, posing as a mere neutral. In early april of 1926, Feng Yuxiang had been cast out of the North China plain and now Wu Peifu had a free hand to play against the rebellion in Hunan. Tang Shengchih now under real threat, began recalling his regiments from northern Hunan and evacuated his forces from Changsha as he built a defense in his home valley.  To deal with the menace, Wu Peifu looked to find a Hunanese local to manage the province for him. Wu Peifu turned to the Hunanese 3rd division commander, Yue Kaixin, to make him military governor and commander of the 1st division, with Ho Yaotsu to be civil governor. However the Hunanese gentry cried out immediately at this, stating they would not allow him to overturn their authority. Thwarted, Wu Peifu reverted to violence to pacify the troublesome province. In May, Tang Shengchih suffered a major defeat and was forced to fall back on the defense as Wu Peifu's Hunanese allies were battering him. Until NRA forces advanced into the province, there was little hope for Tang Shengchih and his crumbling defenses within the Xiang valley. Thousands of men from the NRA's 4th and 7th armies began to arrive in late May, but even so they were outnumbered in southern Hunan. It was not until June 2nd, when Tang Shengchih finally caved and accepted the offer from Chiang Kai-Shek to be the commander of the 8th NRA army. Thus Tang Shengchih went from leading a division to an army and his regimental commanders became division commanders. It was also of course a substantial pay raise. This was the type of model the NRA would adopt throughout the Northern Expedition. If you can't beat them, buy them. Just a few days later, the NRA forces within Hunan accepted Tang Shengchih as their front line commander. Tang Shengchih then proclaimed he would head a provisional Hunan government as its governor in the name of the KMT government.  The KMT had done a lot to win over the Hunanese people. The Hunanese people wanted autonomy, so the KMT flouted notions of provincial autonomy with a federal system. It was a marriage of convenience. Another major carrot was promising to end the tyranny of the northern warlords and the exploitation of the foreign imperialists. Some began to refer to the Northern Expedition as the “anti-north campaign” and clearly the first target would be the warlord controlling Hunan, Hubei and Honan, the Jade Marshal. In July the 4th army divisions led by Chang Fangkuei and Chen Mingshu arrived at the front, thus the defense changed to offense. At this point Wu Peifu's armies were still too far in North China and his Hunan allies were now becoming overwhelmed by the NRA swarming out of Guangdong. Under these dire circumstance, Wu Peifu's appointed governor, Chao Hengti made a stand along the north banks of the Xiang, the Lien and Lu rivers. From late June to early July the NRA prepared to ford the Lien river sitting west of the Xiang and the Lu river to its east. Down the Xiang was Changsha. Facing the Lu river were two 4th army divisions and Yue Tings independent regiment and another Hunanese regiment. Over at the Lien river were Jiangxi troops of the 7th army alongside the remainder of Tang Shengchihs 8th army. As the first major offensive kicked out, Tang Shengchih was at the front raising morale for the Hunanese, which was very important, as do remember, all these forces coming out of Guangdong were alien Cantonese to them. A breakthrough emerged along the two-river lines with the 7th and 8th NRA armies over on the left wing on the 5th of July. By the 10th the 4th NRA Army engaged the enemy towards Changsha. Over in the east where Hunan bordered Jiangxi, a subordinate of Sun Chuanfang who controlled the lower Yangtze region was completely undisturbed by the NRA forces. Chiang Kai-Shek and his subordinates had given specific orders not to molest Sun Chuanfang, trying to avoid bringing him into the fight to join Wu Peifu. The NRA also profited off a recent flood of the Yangtze that had backed water up the streams of northern Hunan, hindering enemy communications. Wu Peifu was awaited reinforcements over at his HQ in Wuhan while his generals in Hunan faced the real threat of being encircled and annihilated. To Wu Peifu's western flank, two Guizhou warlords were watching the tide of battle. Wu Peifu was very aware of this and it threatened his western defensives. The season had also been a poor harvest, reducing food stuff for Hunan, a province that was already quite dependent on exports north in places like Wuhan. Even with his riverine navy, Wu Peifu could not hope to move enough foodstuff to his southern front. Another issue he faced was the passive resistance of Hunan's peasantry class who began hiding their produce from suppliers. The loss of the Lien-Lu River line left Changsha completely defenseless, so on July 11th the defenders simply withdraw further north of the city.  With the Guangdong and Juangxi forces entering Hunan, the NRA had gained enough manpower to begin advancing north. From July 11th after taking Changsha until mid August the front moved north only 50 miles. Delays occurred because reinforcements and war materials for the NRA could only be moved halfway up from Guangzhou by rail. Afterwards they had to travel over back-breaking terrain by foot. Soldiers and their hired coolies had to hand carry supplies and arms and this in turn limited the largest weaponry they could move, such as small field cannons which took entire teams of carriers. For those of you who don't know, I specialize in the Pacific War and I can certainly say, the Japanese forces in isolated islands, take Guadalcanal for example, saw this exact type of situation. Japanese artillery teams would have to disassemble artillery pieces and carry them by hand through rough jungles, often under starvation conditions. Not fun. The NRA during these circumstance, much like the Japanese in the 1940's in jungle terrain islands would suffer from terrible ailments, not malaria like the Japanese, but cholera. Cholera was taking a toll on the overheated and exhausted soldiers and civilian coolies. One Chen Kungpo wrote in his memoirs “that hundreds died daily in one mountain town on the route going north”. By August, both sides were gathering in strength along a new front, established near the Milo River. A military advisor wrote “Sometimes there are no provisions, my colleagues tear off some sort of grass, chew it and are full.” However the northern forces could not launch counterattacks without the full support of the Jade Marshall's main army who were still stuck in North China aiding Zhang Zuolin against the treacherous Feng Yuxiang. To remedy the two front situation, Wu Piefu tried but failed to secure loans and aid from his former protege, Sun Chuanfang, who honestly was more foe than friend now. Sun Chuanfang had basically taken the mantle as the strong Zhili leader and certainly did not want to share any of his newfound limelight. Alongside this the British turned a cold shoulder to Wu Peifu and the Japanese never liked him to begin with.  Despite some local floods and the cholera outbreak, Chiang Kai-Shek was able to arrive to Hengyang with over 100,000 NRA troops. These numbers had been recently bolstered by Guizhou warlords such as Peng Hanchang and Wang Tienpei who had watched eagerly the battles of the Lien-Lu line before tossing their lot in with the NRA. The Guizhou forces had marched into western Hunan clearing out pockets of resistance as they did. During the northern expedition, smaller warlords tended to simply defect or join the NRA when the NRA was winning. The NRA now prepared an offensive to break the Milo river line, also emboldened by the peasantry class who were very willing to work. The local floods in northern Hunan, combined with the droughts in southern Hunan had destroyed the peasants' fields, thus they needed to make money. The NRA exploited this to recruit soldiers and coolies en masse and this greatly improved their mobility.  By contrast, Wu Peifu's forces were low on ammunition, rations were also beginning to dwindle and the majority of the soldiers had not been paid in quite some time. In the NRA controlled areas, the Hunanese peasants were selling what produce they could spare, but the NRA were also being supplemented by rice carried from Guangdong. The NRA also made sure to pay coolies properly instead of Shanghai'ing them and did not plunder peasants' foodstuffs. This of course led to wide scale cooperation from the local population, something quite rare for the warlord era. A final conference was held at Changsha on August 12th between Chiang Kai-Shek, the top NRA commanders and Soviet advisors. By the 15th orders were dispatched for a general offensive against the Moli line with the objective of reaching Hubei. The NRA right wing also prepared to defend the army in cause Sun Chuanfang finally extended help to Wu Peifu from Guanxi. Chiang Kai-Shek was filled with excitement, for if successful, the NRA offensive would capture Wuhan and her incredible Hanyang Arsenal. Chiang Kai-Shek dispatched word to his generals before the battle. “The importance of this fight is not only in that it will decide the fate of the warlords. But, whether or not the Chinese nation and race can restore their freedom and independence hangs in the balance. In other words, it is a struggle between the nation and the warlords, between the revolution and the anti-revolutionaries, between the Three People's Principles and imperialism. All are to be decided now in this time of battle … so as to restore independence and freedom to our Chinese race”. The general plan of attack was to breach the Milo river line and quickly capture Wuhan. Speed and timing were critical factors. It was all basically a huge gamle. The NRA needed to secure Wuhan before Wu Peifu or Sun Chuanfang entered the war, thus preventing the NRA incursion into the Yangtze Valley. At the moment the NRA and their immeidate adversary in northern Hunan were around equal number, but if Sun Chuanfang entered the mix he had nearly double what Chiang Kai-Shek had. The 4th and 6th NRA armies made their crossing over the Milo on August 17th, successfully outflanking the enemy line and easing the way for the left wing of the 7th and 8th NRA armies to advance. By the 19th, Wu Peifu's troops were forced out of their trenches and only provided sporadic resistance as they withdrew into southern Hubei. During the two day retreat the northern forces had divided in two with the western flank taking refuse in Wu Peifu's naval stronghold of Yuehzhou. Its port was heavily fortified, however the recent floods had caused water from Dongting lake and the Yangtze to meet, ruining many of the fortifications. The NRA cut across Yuehzhou's railway link to Wuhan and surrounded it. Wu Peifu had frantically orders troops to hold the naval base, until he could detach himself from the Hobei operations to take personal command of the shit storm in Hunan. However during a meeting with Zhang Zuolin at Baoding, Wu Peifu received word his subordinates had simply taken all the naval vessels, riverine vessels and even sampans to head downstream for Wuhan. Yuehzhou fell with ease by the 22nd and Hunan was practically cleared of Wu Peifu's regular forces. Wu Peifu's navy contuined to fight the enemy, but all they could really do is harass NRA units along th baks of Dongting lake or the Yangtze. In response the NRA simply tosses fire rafts at them, a classic and age old tactic.  As the NRA chased the enemy, the local railway workers on lines heading into Hubei cooperated. The workers began cutting railway lines and telegraph lines to obstruct the enemy retreating from Yuehzhou. Entire trainloads of troops and war materials fell directly into the hands of the NRA. The end of August saw Chiang Kai-Shek's gamble pay off. Although Sun Chuanfang could pounce at any moment from Juangxi, the NRA had succesfully given a bloody nose to one warlord. The victory of the NRA over Hunan did not go unnoticed by the surrounding provinces warlords. Guizhou generals began joining the KMT as the war raged and the Milo river line fight influenced some generals under Sun Chuanfang to reconsider their loyalites. It was quite remarkable that Sun Chuanfangs decision to stay out of the immediate fight lost him the easiest chance of ending the NRA altogether. If Sun Chuanfang had intervened in the Hunan war, almost 100% he would have defeated Chiang Kai-Shek and easily march upon Guangzhou to end the first United Front. Losing Guangdong the KMT would have withered away, perhaps the CCP, would cower into the shadows awaited the right moment to pounce. Chiang Kai-Shek would not have withstood such a defeat, his leadership role would have been shattered. But such was not the case, Chiang Kai-Shek took Hunan and proved himself a new formidable player on the board. The Hunan campaign cost the NRA, but now they had the perfect base of operations and springboard for further offensives. By the end of August the NRA's intelligence reported Wu Peifu was advancing south to reinforce Wuhan, thus Chiang Kai-Shek tossed the dice of fate again. Advancing north against the three-city stronghold, was regiments of Chen Mingshu and Chang Fakuei's 4th Army. The withdrawal from the Milo river line had allowed Wu Peifu's Hubei forces to form a new line. The Guangzhou-Hankou railway followed a narrow land route between the Yangtze and highland ranges, crossing over multiple flooded bridgeheads. To further hinder the NRA's advance, the Hunanese had breached nearby dikes of the Yangtze. Then they heavily fortified the Tingszu Brigde with barbed wire and machine gun nests over its northern riverbank. The NRA vanguard attacked the stronghold on August 26th, coming to a abrupt halt. The NRA's superior mobility, aided by local boatsmen allowing the NRA right wing to head upstream and get around the enemy's flank. Likewise the NRA 4th army threatened the railway to Wuhan, making Wu Peifu's forces more vulnerable. The forces defending Wuhan were mainly the same troops who had fled Hunan, exhausted and demoralized. When the first attacks came upon the bridgehead, joined by flank attacks, the defensive line collapsed. During the night of the 26th the NRA stormed several strongpoints and outposts. Here again Wu Peifu's forces jumped onto any vessel they could get away with, or fled aboard the last trains heading north. The Tingszu bridge was captured, but at a bloody cost that would limit the NRA's ability to pursue the fleeing enemy. Once again the floods slowed the advance, alongside Wu Peifu's riverine vessels that continued to fire upon any NRA troops that ventured too close to waterways. Yet Wu Peifu's troops were running low on food while the NRA were accumulating more of it. As the NRA soldiers marched across the Tingszu bridge, locals flocked over to sell them foodstuff as by this time word had spread far about how the NRA paid for what they needed. On August 28th the NRA forces captured Xienning, but further north came across the Hesheng bridge. The bridge was heavily fortified and defended by forces under the personal command of Wu Peifu. Back on August the 25th and Hankou, Wu Peifu received word that Tingszu bridge had fallen, thus he quickened his advance to the front. He was shocked by the fall of the bridge and blamed his subordinates, labeling them cowards. When he arrived at Hesheng, Wu Peifu gathered his officers as he executed the commanders who lost the Tingszu bridge. He had with him mercenaries of the Big Swords Corps functioning as the executioners. On August 29th, Wu Peifu then went on the offensive and attacked the NRA vanguard, elements of Li Tsungjen's 7th Army just a bit due south of the Hesheng Bridge. His attack devastated the vanguard until the main bulk of the 7th and 4th armies arrived. Just before dawn on the 30th, Wu Peifu attacked the NRA's line of defense south of the bridge, probing for a weak point. He hit the 4th and 7th armies sectors, but was gradually met by artillery and rifle fire that took a heavy toll. Wu Peifu then had the Big Swords executioners clip more officers of their heads to boost morale. However as Wu Peifu continued to press his offensive his men eventually routed under pressure. His troops fled right over the Hesheng bridge allowing the 7th army to flank them further upstream where they took another smaller bridge and threatened his lifeline, the railway line to Wuhan.  By noon on the 30th, Wu Peifu's Hunanese and Hubei forces were in a general retreat heading north. Wu Peifu had just lost southern Hubei in what was an absolute clumsy miscalculation. During the retreat the NRA flank attack against his railway line saw them capture 3 trains full loaded with troops and arms. Over the course of the past weeks he had lost two bridgeheads seeing 1000 deaths, 2000 wounded and 5000 captured alongside all their weaponry. After the entire debacle, Wu Peifu began frantically pleading with Sun Chuanfang to come down the Yangtze to help him. But Sun Chuanfang made ambiguous responses and dragged his feet. As he did so the NRA fortified their defenses facing Juangxi. In full retreat Wu Peifu began breaching dikes behind his forces to slow down the NRA as they approached Wuchang, the capital of Hubei. He left a force of 10,000 men to defend the city behind its sturdy walls as he ferried the rest of his men to Hankou. Once his forces landed on the other side of the Yangtze he had half of them take up positions to defend the Hanyang Arsenal, while the others defended Hankou, which served as his new HQ. By September his forces from Honan began to arrive.  On August 31st, Chen Mingshu's 4th army was in hot pursuit of the enemy. His vanguard took a vantage point near Wuchang as reconnaissance investigated the city. On September 2nd, the NRA unleashed frontal assaults to probe its defenses, but they lacked any heavy artillery to actually back up a real attack. As a result the NRA suffered heavy casualties before pulling back to establish a proper siege. Meanwhile by september 5th, Hanyang was also surrounded.  Defending Hanyang was a Hubei division led by Liu Tsolung who placed artillery on some fortified high points. When the NRA was just about to launch an assault, suddenly Liu Tsolung, overseeing the majority of Hanyangs defenses defected and helped capture the city and its arsenal. It was a tremendous blow to Wu Peifu as the NRA vanguard was now bypassing Hanyang to threaten his railway link to Honan. Wu Peifu tried to salvage the units he had left to mount a last ditch defensive line over the border hills between Hubei and Honan. Wu Peifu had now withdrawn to the Wushen pass lying on the border, hoping to hold out as more of his Honanese forces advanced south. Yet once again the NRA's superior mobility deprived Wu Peifu of enough time to dig into the pass. After a few assaults, Wu Peifu lost the pass and was driven further back into Honan. The walled city of Wuchang could not be taken as easily as Hanyang or Hankou. Wu Peifu and his men would defend it for well over a month. The NRA did not have proper siege weapons, and the threat of Sun Chuanfang loomed over them.Yet Wu Peifu had not expected Hunan and Hubei to fall so quickly and had not prepared his capital for a long siege. He had 10,000 soldiers, hundreds of thousands of civilians locked within its walls. There were also foreigners within the city and foreign gunboats. The threat of international intervention loomed upon the actions of the NRA. Chiang Kai-Shek telegrammed his foreign minister that a communique should be sent out to inform the world powers “… on the matter of protecting foreign nationals, I have already informed the armies to observe my prohibition against the military occupying or obstructing affairs in foreign-established churches, schools, and the like….” Chiang Kai-Shek personally overlooked the siege to make sure no foreigners were molested.  Just to clear up something that might be confusing some of you, Wuchang refers to one of the 13 urban districts of the capital of Hubei, Wuhan. Now back in mid August, Chiang Kai-Shek called for the capture of Wuhan at Changsha and he had made secret negotiations with Sun Chuanfang to get him to sit out the war. Sun Chuanfang had been quite ambiguous about what he would do, but it was known to NRA intelligence he was massing troops along the borders of Jiangxi and Fujian. Sun Chuanfang made up the excuse he was simply defending his territory from NRA aggression. Apparently Chiang Kai-Shek offered a nonaggression pact and an open invitation to join the KMT, but Sun Chuanfang did not want to give up his new found control over the 5 southeastern provinces for what was perceived to be a lesser role in the KMT. Sun Chuanfang then prepared a two pronged offensive to relieve Wuchang by driving west into KMT territory. Sun Chuanfang was sitting on 200,000 troops and Chiang Kai-Shek was well aware of the threat he posed. Thus Chiang Kai-Shek would go for broke, casting the dice of fate once more.  I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek rolled the dice of fate when he unleashed an offensive against Wu Peifu's holdings in Hunan and Hubei. The gambles paid off big time as the NRA swarmed their enemy, taking prisoners and war materials. However Sun Chuanfang was now entering the fray, a real fight would soon unfold.

Last time we spoke about the Zhejiang-Fengtian War, part of the Anti-Fengtian War. Sun Chuanfang had rising through the ranks and quickly seized himself a powerbase in southeast China. Zhang Zuolin and his Fengtian commanders meanwhile became quite arrogant and began bullying and seizing as much territory as they could. This led the Fengtian forces to begin encroaching in Sun Chuanfang newfound territory of Zhejiang. Assuming Sun Chuanfang like the rest would not resist them, they were certainly surprised when he did. Sun Chuanfang formed a coalition with the warlords that controlled Jiangasu, Fujian, Jiangxi, Anhui and his own Zhejiang to fight off the Fengtian menace. Sun Chuanfang went straight onto the offensive, surprising the Fengtian who were in a passive phase and ultimately defeating them, pushing them further north to Shandong. Sun Chuandfang's victory in the Zhejiang-Fengtian War marked the peak of his career, but peaks tend to fall.   #109 The Anti-Fengtian War Part 2: The Guominjun-Fengtian War Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. In the previous episode we spoke about the Zhejiang-Fengtian War. It was part of a larger war known loosely as the anti-fengtian war or third Zhili-fengtian war. To be blunt, if you look up the anti-fengtian war, they barely take notice of the Zhejiang-Fengtian War. Most of the focus is directed north, particularly with the conflict between the Guominjun and Fengtian. Certainly the Guominjun took the spotlight during this war as Feng Yuxiang and Zhang Zuolin were clearly fighting for dominance over Beijing. However Zhang Zuolin was simply too powerful and began to bully his way across China. Through Duan Qirui and the Beiyang government, Zhang Zuolin secured vital positions for his subordinates. The 5th Fengtian army commander Kan Chaoxi was ordered to take two Fengtian Mixed Brigades and occupy Rehe province as its governor. Li Jinglin the commander of the Fengtian 2nd army and a Hubei native, became the military inspector of Hubei. Zhang Zongchang was given the title of commander in chief of suppressing banditry in Jiangsu, Shandong and Anhui which further led him to become the governor of Shandong. Yang Yuting was made governor over Jiangsu and Jiang Dengxuan over Anhui.. By 1925 the Fengtian military was 370,000 men strong across land, sea and air. By January of 1925, Fengtian forces began occupying Shanghai, threatening Sun Chuanfang who unleashed the Zhejiang-Fengtian War in retaliation As for Feng Yuxiang, he was unable to exert any real control in Beijing. He had received the title of inspector general over the northwest, effectively a military governorship. This saw him gain direct control over Rehe, Chahar and Suiyuan. In early 1925 he moved his headquarters to Kalgan. Through his subordinates and allies he also exerted control in Hunan, Shanxi and Gansu. Because of his recent acquisition of Soviet aid, his armies were growing in size, though declining in quality. He had gradually distanced himself from Zhang Zuolin. In January of 1925 Feng Yuxiang was being excluded by Duan Qirui and Zhang Zuolin. At this point Feng Yuxiang met Li Dazhao as Soviet military advisors were coming to help train his forces. In the late spring and summer Feng Yuxiang dispatch young officers to study in the Soviet Union. After a very strict examination period, presided over by Feng Yuxiang, 24 out of 300 students were enlisted into the Soviet Officer training corps. Another 24 were sent to Japan. When the May 13th incident broke out, Feng Yuxiang alongside some subordinates sent a telegram to Duan Qirui asking the Beiyang government to "take the external situation seriously and not to worry about it, and expressed his willingness to go to the front for the country". Feng Yuxiang then began supporting student demonstrations and on June 13th had his troops all wear black armbands to mourn the Shanghai martyrs. Feng Yuxiang pushed his men to donate to the Shanghai strike workers and personally donated 10,000 yuan. Feng Yuxiang watched costly the events unfold in the southeast. Upon discovering Sun Chuanfang was gaining the upper hand, Feng Yuxiang finally made his move. He began secretly extending his hand to just about anyone who would join with him to fight the Fengtian forces. Obviously Sun Chuanfang was immediately receptive. Feng Yuxiang then reached out within the Fengtian clique to see if any disgruntled commanders would defect. He flirted with Li Jinglin, the current governor over Hubei province. It seemed Li Jinglin was completely on board for the time being as another Fengtian commander welcomed the invitation. Guo Songling, holding the courtesy name Maochen, was born on December 25th of 1883 in Yuqiaozhai village of Dongling district in Liaoning province. In 1903 Guo Songling began studying under Mr. Dong Hanru in Changwangzhai. However he was soon forced to pull out of school because of the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War. In Autumn of 1905, General Zhao Erxun established the Fengtian Army Primary School at Dabeiguan in Fengtian. Guo Songling immediately joined up. The next year he met Fang Shengtao, a member of the Tongmenghui where he became exposed to revolutionary ideology. In 1907 Guo Songling graduated with honors and soon served as a sentry to the Shengjiang General's office. He was soon taken under the wing of commander Zhu Qinglan.  In 1909 Guo Songling was transferred to Chengdu, Sichuan alongside Zhu Qinglan. The next year Guo Songling joined the nationalist army of the Tongmenghui, joining the Tongmenghui as well. In 1911 the Sichuan Railway protection movement broke out and Guo Songling joined the uprising. By this point he was promoted to commander of the 2nd battalion of the 68th regiment, responsible for the defense of northern Chengdu. He persuaded the masses to lift the siege without bloodshed. The governor of Sichuan, Zhao Erfeng dismissed Guo Songlong, suspecting him to be colluding with bandits, but later restored him to his original post at the request of Zhu Qinglan. After the Wuchang uprising, various regions of Sichuan declared independence one after another. In Chengdu a new government formed with Zhu Qinglan as deputy governor. However sichuan generals soon instigated local troops to launch a mutiny, forcing Zhu Qinglan and many Hakka Generals to flee Sichuan. Guo Songling then decided to return to Fengtian province.  Back in Fengtian he joined another uprising movement led by Zhang Rong, but he was quickly arrested by the Qing government and beheaded. At this point one Han Shuxiu risked her life trying to stop the carriage carrying Zhang Rong to his execution. She was caught, but before they seized her, she told the police she was the fiance of Guo Songling, and this led them to let her go. She married Guo Songling shortly after. In 1912 Guo Songling entered the Beijing Officers institute and the next year he entered the army university. After graduating he served as a Beijing military academy instructor. In 1917 after Sun Yat-Sen established his military government in Guangzhou, Guo Songling joined up as the chief of staff to the Guangdong-Jiangxi-Hunan Border defense and became the battalion commander of the Guangdong provincial army. After Sun Yat-Sen saw some major defeats, Guo Songling departed Guangzhou, yet again returning to Fengtian where he took up a position as a tactical instructor for the military academy of Manchuria. It was here he met Zhang Xueliang. Zhang Xueliang soon recommended him to his dad who made him chief of staff and head of the 2nd regiment. By 1921 he was the head of the 8th Brigade.  During the first Zhili-Fengtian war of 1922, the eastern route force led by Zhang Xueliang and Guo Songling shattered Wu Peifu's plan to break through Shanhaiguan. During the second Zhili-Fengtian war of 1924, Zhang Xueliang and Guo Songling were serving as commander and deputy commander of the 3rd army. Alongside Jiang Dengxuan and Han Linchun commanding the 1st army, they soundly defeated the Zhili forces winning the war. Zhang Zuolin then appointed his son as commander of the BEijing-Yulin garrison with Guo Songling as his deputy commander. As Zhang Zuolin dispatched Fengtian commanders into China proper to occupy southern provinces. Guo Songling believed Zhang Zuolin and many of his commanders were becoming war mongers, and proposed a different strategy, emphasizing pulling back forces into China's interior to try and win over rural populations. Other commanders worked to politically exclude Guo Songling from Zhang Zuolin's ear, such as Yang Yuting, thus Guo Songling's proposal was rejected.  In 1925 Guo Songling took his wife to Japan to study military affairs. While in Japan Guo Songling learnt Zhang Zuolin was dispatched his troops south drawing Sun Chuanfang into a war. He also learned the extent of Zhang Zuolin's dealings with the Japanese and became disgusted with how he was seemingly selling out China. Now Guo Songling's wife Han Shuxiu was a graduate of Yenching University and a classmate of Feng Yuxiang's wife, Li Dequan. They had a good relationship and were close contacts. Han Shuxiu learned about Feng Yuxiang's dealings with the Soviets and told Guo Songling who became quite excited. Guo Songling had acquired quite a few grievances under Zhang Zuolin and wanted to overthrow him. Therefore he began to secretly negotiate with Feng Yuxiang. In November Guo Songling was recalled to China for the war effort. Instead of aiding the war effort, On November 22nd, Guo Songling raised an army in Luanzhou and sent a telegram stating he was rebelling against Zhang Zuolin. He called his force the “Northeast National Army”. Jiang Dengxuan rushed over to Luanzhou station to try and reason with Guo Songling, but was arrested upon entering the city. Guo Songling tried to persuade Jiang Dengxuan to join him to oppose Zhang Zuolin, but Jiang simply scolded him. Guo Songling then had him shot on November 26th. Guo Songling raised 70,000 troops who quickly captured Shanhaiguan. In the face of the onslaught, Zhang Zuolin only had 40,000 troops in the vicinity, as he had dispatched the vast majority of his forces into China proper to expand the Fengtian empire. Pretty ironic, the guy who told him to pull back his forces into the interior was now attacking his interior. Guo Songling's forces brushed aside the Fengtian armies, seizing Suizhong, Xingcheng and Jinzhou. The Fengtian forces were taken completely off guard and were quickly pushed towards the east bank of the Liaohe River. Guo Songling's main target was Mukden, which he soon erected a siege against. Guo Songling since November 22nd began repeatedly sending telegrams to Zhang Zuolin demanding he step down and allow his son Zhang Xueliang to take over. If Zhang Zuolin would simply do so, he promised to stop his rebellion. Zhang Zuolin panicked and began frantically placing a bounty over Guo Songling's head, up to 800,000 yuan. With no one to turn to, Zhang Zuolin ran with his tail between his legs to the Japanese asking if their Kwantung Army could stop Guo Songling. Zhang Zuolin knew very well the kind of man Guo Songling was. He knew the mans personality and vigor was a huge threat politically, allegedly Zhang Zuolin began the process of forming his resignation and peace talks. Zhang Zuolin was seen packing 29 cars with furniture and his valuables heading over to Dalian to flee, most likely for Japan. It is also said he had a ton of firewood and gasoline positioned around his mansion, so it could be burned down if Guo Songling got to it. Countless Fengtian civilian and military officials also began fleeing with their families, it was pure chaos. The Japanese were certainly not pleased with the situation. The Kwantung Army certainly did not want Guo Songling to gain power, it most certainly spelt doom over their dominance over Manchuria. Guo Songling was in league with Feng Yuxiang and to the Japanese this meant in one way or another, he was a communist sympathizer. The Japanese view of Guo Songling was “Guo's intention was to expel Zhang himself, clearly implement the Three Principles of the Kuomintang , involve the three northeastern provinces in war, attract Soviet forces into Manchuria, and induce a situation that Japan's national defense and Manchuria-Mongolia policy could not forgive." The president of the Manchuria railway company, Yasuhiro Banichiro believed “if Guo's rebellion was successful, the three northeastern provinces would be ravaged by the communist movement, and there might be a "free zone" without the Manchurian Railway and Kwantung Leased Territory." Consul General Yoshida Shigeru in Tianjin reported that if Guo Songling took over Manchuria, it was sure the Kuomintang would move in and the threat of communism with them. Thus the Japanese believed that Zhang Zuolin needed to stay in power. The Japanese began mediating a peace deal, highlighting how they wished both sides would recognize their empire's rights in Manchuria and Mongolia. They also added, if these demands were not respected they would go to war with either of them. Guo Songling slammed the table to this and shouted "How can this be! This is China's internal affairs! I don't understand what Japan's special rights are!" Then Zhang Zuolin made a secret agreement with the Japanese, caving into all their demands if the Kwantung army would send troops.  On december 8th, the Kwantung Army issued a warning to Guo Songling to stay 20 miles away from the south manchurian railway concession or they would get involved. The Kwantung army was taken measures to halt Guo Songling's advance and give Zhang Zuolin time to get his forces over. On the 9th the Japanese 10th divisional HQ moved from Liaoyang to Fengtian. The 63rd regiment,  1st artillery battalion and 1st Cavalry battalion of Gongzhuling alongside garrison units all converged upon Fengtian trying to intercept Guo Songling. On the 12th Guo Songling's vanguard arrived near Baiqibao. His right wing prepared an assault against Yingkou. On the 14th as they tried to enter Yingkou they were suddenly blocked by Japanese forces and issued another warning to back off. Guo Songling's men were thus banned from the urban area, forced to take the fighting along the Liaohe river. This was a huge obstacle between them at Fengtian, they would have to go 30 km's around the south manchuria railway to get to it. On the 15th the Japanese decided to withdraw part of the IJA 24th division from Korea and part of the 12th Division from Kurume to form a Manchuria expeditionary army that would be deployed in Fengtian to stop Guo Songling. On the 17th the main bulk of Guo Songling's army entered Baiqibao. On the 20th Guo Songling captured Xinmin and his vanguard was now arriving to the west bank of the Juliu river, due southwest of Mukden. Guo Songlings men could see the lights of Fengtian cities as they awaited the rest of the army to ford the river. The next day the main force arrived in Xinmen setting up a new HQ. The Fengtian defenses were led by Zhang Xueliang who deployed along the east bank of the Juliu river from Damintun to Gongzhutun. Wu Junsheng's 6th army, consisting mostly of cavalry were rushing south from Heilongjiang to take up a position on the Fengtian left wing while Zhang Zuoiangs 5th army was coming over from Jilin for the right wing. Zhang Xueliang personally led the 3rd army within the middle. Guo Songling set up his men along the west bank of the Juliu river, arranging them from north to south in the order of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th armies. On the 22nd Guo Songling gave the order for a general attack to take place the next day. The net day his army launched their attack against Zhang Xueliang's middle position, finding he was utilizing heavy Japanese weaponry. Zhang Zuoxiang attack with his right wing, quickly occupying Beigaotaizi, before hooking around to cut off Guo Songlings line of retreat. Then Wu Junsheng's left wing seized Liuhegou and assaulted Baiqibao where he burned Guo Songlings ammunition dumps, weaponry and provisions. Now Guo Songling's supply line was compromised and his rear was threatened. At this point Zhang Xueliang went out of his way to dispatch air forces to drop letters trying to get his friend to stop the rebellion. Without any response from Guo Songling, Zhang Xueliang took his force and began surrounding his army. That night Guo Songling held a meeting where his generals Zou Zuohua and Gao Jiyi advocated for a ceasefire and to go to the peace talks. Other generals such as Liu Wei and Fan Pujiang advocated to keep on fighting. In the end Guo Songling elected to keep the war going and decided to engage in a decisive battle on the 24th.  On the 24th, Guo Songling personally led the battle, launching three fierce attacks against the Fengtian forces. However Zuo Zuohua, his chief of staff defected, withdrawing an artillery brigade as he did so, greatly hampering the war effort. Guo Songling's army was defeated, he gave permission for his subordinates, even his personal guards to try and escape if they could during the night. Guo Songling and his wife Han Shuxiu were both captured by Wang Yongqing, the brigade commander of Wu Junshengs army. They were to be taken to Mukden for trial. On December 25th Wang Yongqing was escorting them when he received orders issued by Yang Yuting, Guo Songling's political rival. The orders were simply to shoot them on the spot. Now depending who you hear this story from, many claim it was actually Zhang Zuolin who sent the order. Historians believe Yang Yuting was worried Zhang Xueliang would rescue Guo Songling so he advised Zhang Zuolin it was best to simply kill him so the ordeal would not be repeated. At 10am Guo Songling and his wife were shot near Laodafang in Liaozhong county. Their bodies were transported to Mukden, which I should be calling Shenyang, I apologize the names change back and forth. Their bodies were left exposed in the Xiaoheyan stadium for three days. Thus ended the month long rebellion of Guo Songling. Now while all of that was breaking out in Manchuria, Feng Yuxiang had unleashed his war as well. In early december Feng Yuxiang led the Guominjun forces east launching a massive attack into Rehe province. Now if you recall, Feng Yuxiang had brokered a deal with Li Jinglin, and these parts of Rehe were his territory. Thus Li Jinglin saw this as a betrayal. He sent a telegram denouncing Feng Yuiang "He fooled his subordinates and used the heresy of communism to destroy the great defense and morality.I carry the sword for the country, not for party disputes or for profit, but only for this humanitarianism, in order to destroy the public enemy of the world and save our morality from the decline of five thousand years.It doesn't matter whether we are enemies or not, but only whether we are red or not.” Li Jinglin fought tenaciously against the Guominjun, however by December 23rd, Feng Yuxiang had seized Tianjin. Meanwhile alongside Sun Chuanfang, Wu Peifu had also joined the Zhili fight against the Fengtian forces, thus he was loosely allied to Feng Yuxiang. When Guo Songling's rebellion crumbled, it seemed clear to all, Feng Yuxiang was about to face the full brunt of Zhang Zuolin's Fengtian armies, who had withdrawn into the interior to meet his threat. While Feng Yuxiang dominated the Beijing area, it was only a matter of time before the Fengtian swarmed him. Wu Peifu had been quietly building up his powerbase in Hunan. While he appeared to be a good ally to the anti-Fengtian cause, he was anything but. The only person, Wu Peifu hated more than Zhang Zuolin, was of course Feng Yuxiang, the man who stabbed him in the back and ruined his Zhili dominated China dream. If Wu Peifu were to join Zhang Zuolin they would effectively surround and isolate Feng Yuxiangs pocket in the north. Wu Peifu knew if he wanted to rejoin the big boys club, he would have to kowtow to Zhang Zuolin and take up a subordinate position. If lets say Wu Peifu and Zhang Zuolin dominated Beijing again, they would be able to squeeze any funding away from Feng Yuxiang, shoving him back into the northwest, whence they could gradually beat him up. Thus Wu Peifu and Zhang Zuolin settled their differences and formed an alliance against the treacherous Feng Yuxiang. Its kind of funny but Feng Yuxiang had betrayed both men at some point so it was sort of the binding glue to their new found relationship. The Zhili and Fengtian cliques had united once again, this time calling themselves the Anti-Red coalition. Their objective was quite simple, they would surround and strangle Feng Yuxiang's army. On January 20th Feng Yuxiang had launched a battle against their new coalition at Shanhaiguan, Shandong and Henan simultaneously. Zhang Xueliang led his army to occupy Luanzhou before advancing towards Tianjin. Zhang Zongchang, whose army had withdrawn into Shandong after Sun Chuanfang had defeated them now attacked from the south. Zhang Zuolin dispatched a special envoy to officially form a alliance with Wu Peifu, asking him to attack Feng Yuxiang from his position and if possible see if Yan Xishan could be lured into the scuffle as well. Wu Peifu took his rather meager forces and marched north from Hubei into Hunan. His relatively weak army was assisted by the Red Spear Society. These were a rural self-defense movement that sprang up in Hebei, Henan and Shandong in the 1920s. They were local small land owners and tenant farmers trying to defend their lands or villages from roaming bandits, warlords, tax collectors and later on in history communists and Japanese. In many ways they were the spiritual successor to the Big Swords Society. This particular group of them had been abused by the Guominjun commander Yueh Weichun who presided over Hunan.  Back in the north, an incident broke out at the Taku forts. Feng Yuxiang having taken control of Tianjin and the Taku forts, seized some minor warships and began mining the seas. This was in violation of the Boxer Protocol and the IJN retaliated by bombarding his ships and even fired upon Feng Yuxiang's forces along the coast. Feng Yuxiang had his artillery fire back upon the IJN warships. In the face of the escalating situation, other foreign powers notified China they must stop what Feng Yuxiang was doing as it threatened to breach the Boxer Protocol. An ultimatum was given, prompting Duan Qirui to persuade Feng Yuxiangs forces to stop mining the waters. Then on March 18th, 1926, KMT and CCP members such as Xu Qian, Li Dazhao, Zhao Shiyan and others initiated a "National Congress against the Eight-Power Ultimatum" in front of Tiananmen, with Xu Qian served as the chairman of the presidium of the Congress. Mass demonstrations broke out in Tiananmen Square. They opposed the foreign ultimatum and called for an end to the unequal treaties, for foreign warships to depart their waters and for Feng Yuxiang to fight their imperial aggression. Li Dazhao took to the stage shouting "Don't be afraid, they dare not do anything to us!" Li Dazhao then led many to rush towards the state council. Duan Qirui panicked and ordered Beijing guards to fire upon them. A reporter at the scene stated stated that the marchers "the demonstrators attacked the State Council, poured oil, threw bombs, and attacked the military and police with pistols and sticks. The military and police were killed and injured in their legitimate defense." 47 demonstrators were killed, 150 more were wounded. Duan Qirui then ordered the arrest of the ring leaders, such as Li Dazho and Xu Qian who all fled. Back in the war for the north the Guominjun commander Lu Zhunglin now faced an offensive from Li Jinglin and Zhang Zongchang from Shandong and the main Fengtian forces coming from Manchuria. Li Jinglin began his advance in February of 1926, fighting Lu Zhunglin for several weeks. Feng Yuxiang realized they would lose the war at this rate and ordered the forces to pull out of Hubei and Henan into the Beijing area. Lu Zhunglin was forced to evacuate 100,000 man army by March 21st. Feng Yuxiang's took positions in the Beijing area where they would fight off the enemy for over a month, the enemy now including Wu Peifu who had advanced north from Hunan. Feng Yuxiang meanwhile arrested Duan Qirui and released Cao Kun on April 9th, trying to sow dissent between Wu Peifu and Zhang Zuolin. His idea was to declare he was once again willing to serve under Cao Kun, and sent word to Wu Peifu that they should join forces to destroy the Fengtian clique. Wu Peifu simply ignored this request. Lu Zhunglin leading the forces from the front knew he could not hope to hold back the onslaught any longer so on April 15th he evacuated the army to the Nankou Pass, roughly 30 miles northwest of Beijing. In the meantime the coalition led by armies under Zhang Zongchang, Zhang Xueliang, Li Jinglin and Wu Peifu occupied Beijing. They installed Yan Huiqing as a temporary figurehead as Duan Qirui was exiled to Tianjin under orders from Zhang Zuolin. The forces also sacked Beijing, so badly it would not recover until 1928. Now at the Nankou Pass, 90,000 Guominjun troops resisted the onslaught of over 450,000 of the enemy until August 16th. The Guominjun looking for another escape route dispatched a force led by Shi Yousan and Han Fuju into Shanxi. They were attacked near Datong by Yan Xishan's army. Despite being sympathetic to the Guominjun, as Yan Xishan was loosely associated with the KMT, his policy of neutrality had to be enforced, it was after all one of the ways he managed to survive this long. Feng Yuxiang's forces were quickly dislodged from Shanxi. Meanwhile Chahar fell to Zhang Xueliang's men as they advanced from Beijing and Suiyuan fell to Yan Xishan as his men advanced from Shanxi. The Guominjun put up a spartan-like resistance, but the Fengtian brought Japanese heavy artillery to the Nankou Pass where they blew away possibly 10,000 Guominjun. The Guominjun were forced to retreat into Gansu by August 15th.  Gansu at this time was being held by a bunch of lesser warlords whose domains were affected by religious divisions. Feng Yuxiang now took this time to go on a trip to the Soviet Union, announcing his resignation. Yet it was not actually a resignation, once in the USSR he began regaining control over his Guominjun army, winning back the favor of two of his best generals who had defected, Han Fuchu and Xu Yusan. Both these men had tossed their lot in with Yan Xishan temporarily. Feng Yuxiangs next goal was to recover his position in Shaanxi, where his forces had been under siege since April of 1926 by Liu Chenhua the previous warlord of Shaanxi. Liu Chenhua had been bolstered by Red Spear units from Hunan. Now Feng Yuxiang had basically united all the northern warlords in their hatred for him, so he pretty much had no one else to look to, except for of course, the Kuomintang.   I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Feng Yuxiang unleashed his Guominjun after securing many sneaky deals with those like Guo Songling, Sun Chuanfang, Li Jinglin and even Wu Peifu sort of. His plans all came to naught as he gradually lost the anti-fengtian war and now Wu Peifu and Zhang Zuolin were back in Beijing together, talk about Deja Vu.      

Last time we spoke about the rise of Chiang Kai-Shek. Chiang Kai-Shek had gradually become a rising star in the KMT. Dr Sun Yat-Sen saw some promise in the young man and took him under his wing soon making him something akin to his number 2. Aligning with Sun Yat-Sen, Chiang Kai-Shek helped consolidate KMT power in Guangzhou and played a crucial role in military campaigns, including the suppression of the Canton Merchants Association militia in 1924. Following Sun Yat-Sen's death in 1925, Chiang Kai-Shek navigated the KMT power vacuum that unfolded. When the Guangzhou Coup occurred, Chiang Kai-Shek managed to keep his head and began systematically eliminating or neutralizing his rivals. In the end he solidified his authority and led to the temporary stabilization of KMT-CCP relations, setting the stage for the Northern Expedition aimed at unifying China under KMT leadership.   #108 The Anti-Fengtian War Part 1: The Zhejiang-Fengtian War Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. In this episode we are going to be talking about a new warlord, well new-ish. When I had been introducing the individual warlords and their factions, I had to set a few aside, because they come later on in the warlord Era, one of them being Sun Chuanfang. Sun Chuanfang was born April 17th, 1885 in Fanzhen, of Tai'an county in Shandong province. He lost his father at a early age, and because he grew up in old troublesome Shandong, he was destined to face hardship. One of those hardships was the Boxer Rebellion, which provided much unrest, poverty and famine. His family was forced to flee famine many times before they settled in Jinan. Sun Chuanfang had a little sister who went on to marry Wang Yingkai, a rising officer in the Beiyang Army and a protege under Yuan Shikai. By being the brother in law, Sun Chuanfang received some financial aid and was given a proper education. Sun Chuanfang was quickly deemed talented and strong, so it was recommended he join the Beiyang Army training camp in 1902. Sun Chuanfang graduated in 1904 and was sent to Japan to train at the Tokyo Shimbu Gakko military preparatory school. Reminiscent of Chiang Kai-Shek's experience, Sun Chuanfang joined the Tongmenghui while studying in Japan.He would graduate 6th in his class and served in the IJA before returning to China in 1908. In 1909 he took the Army Civil Service Examination and ha exellent results, obtaining the status of an infantry juren. After this Sun Chuanfang was assigned to the 2nd army regiment of Ma Longbiao. Eventually he was recruited by Wang Zhanyuan who would become something of a mentor to him. During the Wuchang uprising, Sun Chuanfang was assigned to forces who went south to supress the revolutionaries. After the founding of the new republic, Sun Chuanfang took a station in Hubei. Sun Chuanfang rose through the ranks and by 1917 he was appointed commander of the 21st mixed brigade. After this he received a promotion to commander of the 1st Division. During the Anhui-Zhili War Sun Chuanfang was fighting under Wang Zhanyuan as they captured Wu Guangxin. After this Sun Chuanfang was awarded commander in chief over the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. In 1921, the governor of Hunan, Zhao Hengti, attempted to expand his rule to Hubai launching a small war known loosely as the Hunan-Hubei War. Zhao Hengti failed to expand his rule, but forced something of a political struggle upon Wang Zhanyuan who ended up resigning from his post. Wu Peifu then recommended Sun Chuanfang to became the commander of the 2nd division, working under him. During the 1st Zhili-Fengtian War of 1922. Sun Chuanfang officially became a member of the Zhili Clique and began publicly demanding the resignation of Xu Shichang, the current Anhui clique president. In June that year, Xu Shichang resigned and Li Yuanhong took his place. In 1923, Sun Chuanfang was appointed the Military Inspector of Fujian. He led his troops to Fujian and quickly seized control over the province. There he established the Fujian Army. In September of 1924, the Jiangsu-Zhejiang War broke out, a precursor to the 2nd Zhili-Fengtian War. Sun Chuanfang initially held back, but stated he was supporting Qi Xieyuan the governor of Jiangsu against Lu Yongxiang the governor of Zhejiang. When the opportunity opened up Sun Chuanfang invaded Zhejiang to defeat Lu Yongxiang, however during the greater war, the Zhili clique was defeated by the Fengtian forces. Wu Peifu went into exile, many of the remaining Zhili Warlords were tossed into a uneasy situation. For Sun Chuanfang it was a pretty awkward situation as he had just won a smaller war and established a powerbase in southeast China. With Wu Peifu gone, Sun Chuanfang was now one of the biggest Zhili warlords. The new chief executive, Duan Qirui appointed Sun Chuanfang as governor over Zhejiang, casting Qi Xieyuan to the wind. Duan Qirui was struggling to keep the peace across the board, thus he was trying to appease the more troublesome warlords with decent appointments, hoping they would be complacent and not stir up anymore trouble. But this is China's warlord Era, and trouble will be stirred.  Now Two episodes back I mentioned how Feng Yuxiang established his Guominjun, but he lacked funds and arms. Thus he got into bed with the KMT, and by proxy was introduced to Mr. Borodin representing the Soviets. The Soviets agreed to arm and fund his Guominjun as long as he provided the same reciprocity as the KMT, ie; allowing communists to join his ranks. Feng Yuxiang held a sphere of influence in the northwest of China. The new triumvirate between him, Duan Qirui and Zhang Zuolin was honestly a charade. Zhang Zuolin controlled the wealthy provinces of northeast China while Feng Yuxiang controlled the much poorer northwest. Zhang Zuolin was backed by the Japanese, he was essentially more of a conservative. Feng Yuxiang was seen as a radical politically, perhaps even a revolutionary and his backer was the Soviet Union. Duan Qirui was not even in the same league as either, having no real army anymore. Thus Zhang Zuolin was essentially the one calling the shots, it was an arrangement destined to fail.   After winning the second Zhili-Fengtian War, Zhang Zuolin began moving pieces across the chess board to consolidate his power. He first ordered the commander of his 5th army, Kan Chaoxi to lead two Fengtian Mixed Brigades, with some local troops, over to Rehe province to set up shop as its military-governor. The commander of the 2nd Fengtian army, Li Jinglin who was a Zhili native was ordered to serve as a sort of Zhili military affairs director. The Dogmeat General, Zhang Zongchang was given his first big break, Zhang Zuolin made him the commander in chief of suppressing bandits in Jiangsu, Shandong and Anhui. Duan Qirui then ordered the removal of Qi Xieyuan of the Zhili clique from his post as the inspector general of Jiangsu, Anhui and Jiangxi. He was to be replaced by our old friend Lu Yongxiang who would be an envoy to Jiangsu and Anhui. Thus Zhang Zongchang and Lu Yongxiang together marched south along the Shanghai-Nanjing line.    To face the incoming threat Qi Xieyuan banded together with Sun Chuanfang and they likewise marched to Suzhou by January 14th. On the 17th both armies began fighting between Danyang and Wuxi. Yet by the 25th Qi Xieyuan was decisively defeated. Qi Xieyuan fled to Shanghai before getting on a boat to go into exile in Japan. His so-called partner in crime Sun Chuanfang had not ponied up the same amount of troops as he did, choosing to hold back a bit. When Qi Xieyuan fled for Japan, all of his troops were snatched up by Sun Chuanfang. On February 3rd, Sun Chuanfang approached Zhang Zongchang to negotiate, and they signed the second Jiangsu-Zhejiang peace treaty. Under the terms the Zhili army agreed to retreat to Songjiang, the Fengtian army would retreat to Kunshan, while Shanghai would not station troops.    After what was known as the second Jiangsu-Zhejiang war, the Fengtian forces began to dramatically expand their control into the Yangtze River Valley. Zhang Zuolin dispatched 11 divisions to occupy Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu, the Beijing-Fengtian Railway and the Jinpu Railway. Zhang Zuolin strong armed the Beiyang government to make his generals Li Jinglin, Zhang Zongchang, Jiang Dengxuan and Yang Yuting military inspectors over Hubei, Shandong, Anhui and Jiangsu respectively. This basically made the Yangtze River Valley under Fentgian control and connected them via rail to Zhang Zuolin's northeast power base. The agreement made with Sun Chuanfang to not deploy any troops in Shanghai seemed under threat. When prompted, the Fengtian leaders would claim they would never deploy troops in Shanghai, but to all it seemed like classic trickery.    In fact the Fengtian commanders had become quite arrogant and careless. Some of the generals were running opium operations in Nanshi and Zhabei. A regular inspection at Shanghai-Nanjing station showcased one of their drug runs and led to Fengtian soldiers performing a shoot out. Because of the incident, Duan Qirui ordered Lu Yongxiang and Zheng Qian to go over and investigate the situation. At the same time, Zhang Zongchang had deployed some troops in Shanghai to make sure the opium drug running went more smoothly. Zhang Zongchang ordered Cheng Guorui to figure out a solution to the issues and he was accompanied by Li Kuiyuan the director of the Fengtian Army's HQ in shanghai and Yuan Zhihe the Fengtian supply department director. Cheng Guorui and Li Kuiyuan quickly got into an argument and began drawing their guns upon each other in a shoot out. As reported by an eye witness "Yuan was seriously injured, Li fell to his death, Cheng jumped out of the window and injured his waist. At that time, the guards of each person were outside, and they opened fire on each other when they heard the sound, and the order was very chaotic." Thus Zhang Zongchang's efforts to smooth over the drug trafficking had done the very opposite, it made it much much more visible to the public. However Zhang Zuolin was really arrogant himself by this point and believed their Fengtian empire could get away with just about anything at this point, so he simply dispatched a division of troops to Songhu to make sure things ran smoother. Unfortunately he sent these forces to occupy garrisons that belongs to Sun Chuanfang. At the same time Fengtian forces led by Ding Xichun entered Nanjing.   It really seemed Zhang Zuolin got far too over confident. Apparently he began proclaiming "If I don't beat anyone in the next three to five years, no one will dare to beat me." Likewise his subordinate Yang Yuting mirrored his bosses sentiment, mouthing off to local warlords in Jiangsu. Jiang Dengxuan in Anhui began boasting "that he only brought one battalion with him" and Yang Yuting declared publicly "I went to Jiangsu this time with only more than ten entourages and a company of guards."    Meanwhile Li Jinglin and Zhangzong began to crack down on labour movements in Hubei and Shandong. There was a lot of unrest with workers, especially in Qingdao. Zhang Zongchang brutally suppressed any who would try to demonstrate or strike. A strict anti-labor and anti-communist movement was seen across the board in areas Fengtian controlled. Zhang Zongchang also cracked down on the remaining Zhili clique influence in the Yangtze River Valley. When the Fengtian replaced Qi Xieyuan with Lu Yongxiang as governor over Jiangsu, that lasted about a minute until they replaced Lu Yongxiang, who remember was an Anhui clique guy, with one of their own, Yang Yuting. His appointment was specifically to expand into neighbouring Zhejiang and Fujian provinces. These areas of course were being controlled by the last significant Zhili warlord, Sun Chuanfang. Sun Chuanfang had this to say about the situation "Zhang now dominates the Central Plains, controls the government, and covers the northeast and southeast. He is also planning to succeed Yuan Shikai and establish his own empire. He seduces powerful enemies outside and destroys public opinion inside. He is extremely cruel and does everything he can."   On October 11th of 1925, the governor of Zhejiang, Sun Chuanfang took matters into his own hands. He sent a telegram to the entire nation, opposing suppression efforts against Shanghai workers. He was taking a page out of Wu Peifu's playbook, to play upon the image of patriotism, making it seem you loved the people and were fighting for them. In reality this was a ploy to gather support and sympathy for what he was about to unleash. In early October, Sun Chuanfang began to hold secret meetings in Hangzhou with representatives of the Zhili clique of nearby provinces. The conversation was how to thwart the Fengtian from seizing all of their respective territories. They all came into an agreement, Sun Chuanfang would become their leader and he would lead his armies to attack Shanghai. This would be followed up by the Governor of Fujian, Zhou Yinren to lead his troops into Zhejiang to support Sun Chuanfang; the governor of Jiangxi Fang Benren would send his subordinate Deng Zhuoru also to help out in Zhejiang. Wang Pu the governor over southern Anhui, Chen Tiaoyuan the commander of the 4th Zhili division of Jiangsu and the retired warlods, Qi Xieyuan and Ma Lianjia would lend their forces as well. All together its said their forces were 200,000 strong.   After these meetings, Sun Chuanfang gathered the troops at Songjiang and Changxing calling for a “national day” on October the 10th and they performed a military parade. When Duan Qirui heard about this he sent Lu Zongyu to Hangzhou to try and mediate what was clearly turning into a dire situation. The mediation completely failed. Meanwhile Zhang Zuolin took notice and urgently summoned his 4 new governors, Li Jingling, Zhang Zongchang, Yang Yuting and Jiang Dengxuan. He was pulling them back to discuss how they should deal with this new emerging threat. However Zhang Zuolin was too late, for when the governors were enroute to meet with him, Sun Chuanfang made his move.   On October the 15th, Sun Chuanfang suddenly proclaimed himself the commander in chief of a 5 province coalition. The armies of Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangsu, Jiangxi and Anhui were now in alliance. Sun Chuanfang created 5 routes armies; the 1st route army was led by Chen Yi consisting of the 1st division of the Zhejiang army; the 2nd route was led by Xiu Hongxun, consisting of the 4th division. The 1st and 2nd route armies were responsible for attacking Shanghai from the Shanghai-Hangzhou line. The 4th Route army led by Lu Xiangting, consisting of the 2nd division of the Anhui army and 5th Route army led by Zhou Fengqi, consisting of the 2nd Division of the Zhejiang armywere responsible for attacking Suzhou from Changxing. Sun Chuanfang took command of the 3rd route army, leading down the middle. On the 11th of October Sun Chuanfang sent a telegram calling on all foreign nations with interests in Shanghai to send personnel to investigate what he claimed was Fengtian Army members abusing workers and peasants. This of course was a guise to launch his attack.   The Fengtian warlords were taken completely offguard by Sun Chuanfangs rapid offensive, they had all unfortunately been enroute north for a meeting with Zhang Zuolin and thus were on a passive footing. Basically the Fengtian army was in a type of snake like formation extending from Yuguan to Tianjing, Pukou, Nanjing and Shanghai. They were quite dispersed. Thus began what is known as the Zhejiang-Fengtian War. Yet to complicate things, this was actually a theater of a larger war known as the Anti-Fengtian War or Third Zhili-Fengtian War. There were other theaters such as the Guominjun-Fengtian War, involving Feng Yuxiang. The Anti-Fengtian War is pretty incoherent, thus I will try to compartmenalize it.    What should be known in regards to the Zhejiang-Fengtian war, is that the Fengtian forces had the threat of Feng Yuxiang to their rear. If the Fengtian diverted forces to thwart the Guominjun, this would disallow them to quell the southern threat of Sun Chuanfang. Because of this, on October 14th, Yang Yuting ordered his subordinate Xing Shillian to withdraw from the Shanghai area quickly explaining to him in a telegram "due to the Shanghai case, in order to maintain order, we had to adjust the army and declare martial law. Now that the Shanghai case has been resolved, the title of martial law commander should be cancelled, the troops should be withdrawn, and the Jiangsu Police Department should be moved to Shanghai to deter the enemy."   The next day, Yang Yuting invited Jiang Denxuan to Nanjing to figure out how they would withdraw their troops along the Shanghai-Nanjing and Tianjian-Pukou rail lines. He also told Jiang Dengxuan, that Sun Chuanfang would "Su would not invade Zhejiang, consider the elegance of our classmates and resolutely stop the war." So it seemed Yang Yuting, who was a classmate of Sun Chuanfang was under the belief their friendship would prevent an escalation. However Sun Chuanfang on that very same day sent out a telegram to the 5 provinces to attack the Fengtian clique. On the 16th, the 2nd route Army of Xiu Hongxun began occupying Shanghai as the 4th Route army of Lu Xiangting occupied Yixing. Both then began advancing towards Suzhou and Wuxi. Roughly an hour before Sun Chuanfangs forces seized Shanghai, there was a mass withdrawal of the Fengtian forces there.   Because the Fengtian forces had adopted a passive, even non-resistant stance towards Sun Chuanfangs offensive, they all retreated quickly upon seeing any troops. Sun Chuanfang's armies made quick and bloodless progress, however upon reaching Lingkou near Danyang on October the 18th, Xing Shilians men did not retreat. Sun Chuanfang's vanguard found themselves facing what seemed to be determined resistance, but in reality it was a rearguard as the Fengtian forces were trying to evacuate Zhejiang province. On that evening, Yang Yuting convened a meeting in Nanjing with the other commanders, whereupon news came to them of the major defeats their forces had incurred. General Chen Tiaoyuan leading the 4th and 10th Zhili divisions stormed Nanjing and ordered Yang Yuting to be arrested. However Yang Yuting managed to escape from the city under the pretext he was. . . taking a bath. Yes a single source I've been relying upon for this event stated that without any context… so in my head I am imagining the classic hollywood, running a bath of water and jumping out of a window scenario. Regardless Yang Yuting abandoned the Fengtian garrison at Nanjing, fording a river and jumping into a car. On the 19th most of the Fengtians 8th Division, including their commander General Ding Chunxi stationed at Nanjing who had not already fled were surrounded and disarmed by Zhili forces. The next day Sun Chuanfang arrived to Nanjing whereupon he ordered Xie Hongxun's division to ford the river to pursue the Fengtian forces fleeing towards Bengdu. On the 21st Ni Chaorong's leading a Anhui Brigade stationed around Sixian, took a car over to Huaiguan where he telegraphed Jiang Dengxuan to resign. Jiang Dengxuan looked on in misery at the doomed Fengtian forces, knowing full well he had not enough time, men or means to halt the enemies advance, so he fled Bengdu on the 23rd, effectively resigning. Most of the Fengtian forces at Bengdu fled for Xuzhou.   Despite the rather embarrasing retreat of the Nanjing to Bengdu lines, the Fengtian forces were not even close to being really defeated. On the 21st, the Dogmeat General led reinforcements to the battlefield who were now ready for an actual battle. Sun Chuanfangs men at this point occupied Bengbu and had stopped their advance. Unbeknownst to the Fengtian commanders, Sun Chuanfang had secret being negotiations with Wu Peifu. Wu Peifu had come out of his forced retirement in Hubei, and to the north Feng Yuxiang was also coordinating with the three. Sun Chuanfang thought he had secured both men in the mission of attacking Xuzhou, but both of them had failed to perform. Thus Sun Chuanfang found himself in a bit of a pickle at Bengbu.   Meanwhile on the 26th, Zhang Zongchang ordered troops from Xin'an to attack Haizhou. Zhili forces led by General Bai Baoshan were defeated there soundly. The Fengtian army then contuined south to attack Qingjiangpu. Zhili troops led by Ma Yuren tried to defend the city, but soon became encircled and forced to surrender. Sun Chuanfang ordered Zheng Junyan and Chen Diaoyuan to reinforce the eastern sector to try and halt the Fengtian advance. On the 1st of November, Zhang Zongchang launched a new attack upon the Jingdu road, using armored cars and white russian forces. This force was led by Zhang Zongchangs subordinate Shi Chongbin, who had ordered to recapture Suxian and Guzhen.   The frontline Anhui troops became terrified of what looked to them to be a foreign force and fled the battlefield from Rengqiao all the way east of Guzhen. At this point Lu Xiangting, deputy commander in chief under Sun Chuanfang, began demolishing the railway to hinder the Fengtian advance. He dispatched Chen Yi and Xie Hongxun's 2nd division to hook around the rear of the Fengtian army to try and cut their retreat. The White Russian army alongside Chinese of the Fengtian forces were advancing alone in a vangard whence they were attacked from two sides. They had no hope of breaking through, nor fleeing backwards and were forced to surrender. Over 300 White Russian troops were killed in the carnage. Shi Chongbin was captured at Xinqiao station and his 47th brigade of the Shandong Army was completely surrounded.   Zhang Zongchang then dispatched Chu Yupu to reinforce and support the 47th Brigade in an counterattack to try and break out, but it failed. On Novemer 3rd, the 47th Brigade were disarmed and surrendered. Seeing no hope of rescue, Chu Yupu took his troops to man a defensive line between Suxian and Jiagou. Sun Chuanfang now took advantage of the crumbling Fengtian situation and ordered the Zhili forces to surround Xuzhou. Zhang Zongchang mobilized everything the Fengtian had for a decisive battle, but disaster was striking elsewhere. It will be discussed more indepth next episode, but Feng Yuxiang entered the fray, attacking the Fengtian rear in Hubei and western Shandong. Zhang Zuolin realized the dreaded two front war had finally come and elected to pull back his strength. Zhang Zuolin ordered Zhang Zongchang to pull the men back into Shandong on the 6th. On the 7th Xing Shilian, Xu Kun, Bi Shucheng and other Fengtian commanders were retreating from Haizhou and Suqian to Tancheng and Taierzhuang. Chu Yupu and other troops retreated from Suxian and Xuzhou to Hanzhuang and Lincheng. On November 8, Sun Chuanfangs army finally occupied Xuzhou. On the 20th, Sun Chuanfang sent a public telegram to return to Hangzhou from Xuzhou. From then on, the five provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi and Fujian were divided by Sun Chuanfang. The Zhejiang-Fengtian War was also declared over   It was a very embarrassing defeat for the Fengtian Clique. Across the Shanghai-Nanjing defensive line, the Fengtian army suffered heavy losses, their entire the 8th division was captured, most of the 20th division was annhilated. It was said only Liu Yifei, the commander of the 44th Brigade of the 20th Division had led his troops to resist the Zhejiang Army for several hours on the way back from Shanghai. Because he was isolated and helpless, Liu Yifei was apparently forced to disguise himself as a monk to escape. When he fled back to Fengtiann,  Zhang Zuolin, said to Liu Yifei "You are back, great! I heard that you disguised yourself as a monk. Damn it! In Jiangnan, you were the only one who fought with Sun Chuanfang for eight hours. Others surrendered without firing a shot because their parents didn't give them the courage! Now I will organize another Type A brigade for you, which is a three-regiment system. Soldiers are being recruited and stationed in the Dongshanzui barracks. Train hard!"   Upon winning the Zhejiang-Fengtian War, Sun Chuanfang immediately called for a ceasefire, literally as he was entering Xuzhou. His top priority was to consolidate his gains, for he understood he had only served the Fengtian a bloody nose, as they were preoccupied with war in the north. Then Chen Tiaoyuan of Jiangsu sent a telegram publicly announcing his support nominating Sun Chuanfang to form a government in Nanjing leading the 5 provinces he had led during their war. To try and remedy the situation, the Beiyang government offered Sun Chuandfang the position of military inspector of Jiangsu, combining his military inspector titles over Zhejiang and Fujian. Thus Sun Chuanfang would legitimately rule 3 provinces. The warlords running Jiangxi and Anhui were no match at all for Sun Chuanfang, thus they would have to submit to him regardless. So unofficially Sun Chuanfang established a new sort of government in Nanjing ruling the 5 provinces. This would be the very peak of his career, but nothing is ever built to last.   I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The Zhejiang-Fengtian War was honestly the result of Fengtian arrogance. Zhang Zuolin let his guard down, turned to his old banditry ways and unleashed his boys southeast, thinking no one would challenge them. Sun Chuanfang proved himself a very capable warlord and now he was a significant player in China's game of thrones.  

Welcome to the China Compass Podcast! I start by sharing some observations from last week's Nashville Sentencing, which took place just after I recorded the interviews with Denny and Uncle Bundo. The most important thing I mention is Denny's bold declaration to the judge, which you can read here: https://chinacall.substack.com/p/missionary-arrested-in-nashville Also, please bookmark Denny's extensive online used bookstore, which is one of the primary ways he supports his family and ministry: https://www.remnantbooks.org/ In my interview with Uncle Bundo, we forgot to encourage everyone to pray for Heather Idoni, one of the Nashville 10 (and a grandmother!) who is already in federal prison due to a similar conviction last year: https://freeheatheridoni.com/ The CCP is brought to you by Pray for China (https://prayforchina.us/) and today's province is Fujian on China's SE coast (paired up with South Carolina). After a short overview of Fujian, I discuss China's subtle propaganda at a Summer Camp FOR AMERICANS in China, hosted outside of Fujian's capital, Fuzhou: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/07/09/world/politics/xi-young-americans-scripted/ I also discuss China's CURRENT war with Taiwan, just miles away (in certain places) from Fujian: https://asiatimes.com/2024/06/chinas-war-with-taiwan-is-already-underway/ During story time, I tell about meeting a fighting couple (domestic abuse) and an elderly Christian man during the long walk through the old city streets of Fuzhou in 2003. Finally, I finish by describing my attempt at pronouncing (and finding) "net bar" (wangba) in Fujian 20 years ago, and the time I spent four hours(!) writing an email to my now wife.

Last time we spoke about the first United Front and formation of the Guominjun. The second Zhili-Fengtian War had just ended, as Feng Yuxiang betrayed Wu Peifu turning the tides. Feng Yuxiang's Beijing coup saw him become a major player and he soon reorganized his forces into the Guominjun, promoting Chinese nationalism, social reforms, military modernization, and ethical governance. Despite his efforts, Feng's treachery left a lasting negative reputation. The new regime, with Duan Qirui as chief executive, struggled with internal and external pressures. Feng's isolation led him to seek Soviet support, receiving significant military supplies. Meanwhile, the First United Front formed between the Kuomintang  and the Chinese Communist Party , facilitated by Soviet influence. Despite internal tensions, this alliance aimed to unify China. Sun Yat-Sen's cautious cooperation with the Soviets was driven by pragmatic needs, even as ideological differences persisted, setting the stage for future conflicts.   #107 the rise of chiang kai shek Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. Chiang Kai-Shek was born on Halloween, October 31st of 1887 in Xikou, a small town in Fenghua of Zhejiang Province. Chiang was born into a Wuyue family, a subgroup of Han Chinese who speak Wu. His father was Chiang Chaotsung and his mother Wang Tsai-yu. Both were members of a relatively well off family of salt merchants. From an early age, Chiang was interested in the military. Like many youths at the turn of the century in China, Chiang cut off his queue rebelling against the Qing Dynasty. Chiang began his military career at the Baoding Military academy in 1906. After this he traveled to Japan to the Tokyo Shinbu Gakko preparatory school for the IJA. There he gained revolutionary fever, seeking to overthrow the Manchu back home. In 1908 he befriended Chen Qimei who introduced him to the Tongmenghui. He graduated from the Tokyo Shinbu Gakko and served in the IJA for 3 years.  Upon hearing about the Wuchang Uprising, Chiang rushed back to China where he served the revolutionary forces in Shanghai under Chen Qimei. Chiang Kai-Shek then became a founding member of the Kuomintang. Chen Qimei was assassinated by agents of Yuan Shikai, leading Chiang to succeed him as leader of the KMT in Shanghai. In 1918 Chiang moved his base of operations to Guangzhou to joined up with Sun Yat-Sen. I have already told most of the story, Chiang Kai-Shek was there for all of the up's and downs. During the conflict between Sun Yat-Sen and Chen Jiongming, Chiang Kai-Shek stook with Sun, even when he went into exile. Chiang Kai-Shek protected Sun Yat-Sen, and because of this Sun Yat-Sen began to trust him greatly.  Sun Yat-Sen regained control over Guangzhou in 1923 with help of Yunnanese and CCP forces. Then as we discussed in the last episode, Sun Yat-Sen made the fateful decision to form the First United Front with the CCP to obtain Soviet support. Borodin established the Whampoa Military Academy and Chiang Kai-Shek was given the job of managing it. Soviet advisors swarmed into Guangzhou, alongside military equipment and regular pay for the soldiers.  Whampoa was created to produce officers quickly and its military education was a quite diluted form of the Japanese curricula used at the Baoding Military academies. Of course Chiang Kai-Shek himself was a graduate of these and went to Japanese to extend his military education. Thus he brought a sort of Bushido to Whampoa, he taught the boys about obeying orders without question, defending untenable positions to the last man and attacking regardless of losses. The young officers very much became his own. Chiang Kai-Shek also favored the idea of collective punishment for failures. Zhou Enlai, then already a prominent communist became the chief political commissar of Whampoa, backed strongly by Borodin. Now Sun Yat-Sen's authority was confined to Guangzhou and central parts of Guangdong province. He had been strongly contested with this by Chen Jiongming. This resulted in his northern expedition failing a few times. In the summer and autumn of 1924 he contended then with the Canton Merchants Association, who had formed an armed· militia and began staging  protests and strikes in August when Sun Yat-Sen tried to cut off their arms supplies. In October the Merchants Association attempted to seize Guangzhou in collusion with Chen Jiongming, and it was Chiang Kai-shek who personally led the Whampoa cadets to defeat and dissolve their militia. This was another moment for the rising star to show his worth. Then Dr Sun Yat-Sen was extended an invitation to Beijing from Feng Yuxiang, Duan Qirui and Zhang Zuolin, the new triumvirate. All sought the reunification of China, they wondered if this could be done peacefully. Sun Yat-Sen had declined numerous times to come to Beijing and rejoin the Beiyang government, in the past he refused mostly because of Wu Peifu and Li Yuanhong. This time he had less objections, and with Soviet backing he finally had a better poker hand. Borodin thought it was a good idea and now Chiang Kai-Shek had a firm hand over the NRA forces. For once Sun Yat-Sen was not looking over his back to see if Chen Jiongming was going to seize Guangzhou. With Chiang Kai-Shek watching over his military and his old friend Hu Hanmin as deputy over civilian affairs, accompanied by those like Wang Jingwei, the Generalissimo went to Beijing in 1925.  In 1924 Sun Yat-Sen had traveled to Tianjin where he delivered a speech, suggesting a national conference for the people of China. He called for an end to warlordism and the abolition of the unequal treaties. He also received word from General Ma Fuxiang of the Ma Clique, who notified him he was willing to join forces. Meanwhile Sun Yat-Sen had a real problem, his health. While at Tianjin he underwent an exploratory laparotomy, this is a surgical exploration of the abdominal organs. This was done at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital. He had been suffering for a long time from something relating to his liver. Dr. Adrian Taylor opened him up and stated "the surgery revealed extensive involvement of the liver by carcinoma". Taylor gave Sun Yat-Sen only ten days to live. Sun Yat-Sen was hospitalized and received radium treatment. On February 18th, against the advice of his doctors, he was transferred to the KMT HQ and received traditional chinese medicine. By March 12th, Sun Yat-Sen died at the age of 58. The cause of death was stated to be liver cancer.  Sun Yat-Sen left a rather famous will, written by Wang Jingwei. It is generally believed now that Wang Jingwei had written the will on his behalf.  “For forty years I have devoted myself to the national revolution, with the goal of seeking freedom and equality for China. With forty years of experience, I know that in order to achieve this goal, I must arouse the people and unite with the nations in the world that treat me equally to fight together. Now that the revolution has not yet succeeded, all my comrades must continue to work hard in accordance with my " National Construction Strategy ", " National Construction Outline ", " Three Democratic Principles " and " Declaration of the First National Congress " to implement them. Recently, I have advocated the convening of a national assembly and the abolition of unequal treaties, and we must promote their realization in the shortest possible time. This is what I have said!” All of China watched eagerly to see who would succeed Sun Yat-Sen. Wang Jingwei was at his deathbed and entrusted to write his will out, thus most believed he was the prime candidate. Yet there were many choice and now the Soviets looked to who would be the man they would be dealing with.  A major situation then broke out in May of 1925. The triumvirate was not very popular amongst the Chinese people. Southerners particularly were not keen about it. In the wake of Dr Sun Yat-Sen's death, the CCP thought they had a major opportunity. A new bill was being passed in Shanghai that would see the end of children under the age of 12 working in mills and factories. Now many working class families depended on such work. Alongside this another bill advocating for censorship of publications was about to be introduced and this really pissed off the intellectual types. Strikes emerged, some aimed at Japanese owned businesses, such as cotton mills. A group of Japanese managers were attacked leaving work, one was killed. In response Japanese foremen began carrying pistols on duty. By May 15th a Japanese foremen  shot dead by a protestor named Ku Cheng-Hung. The Shanghai population demanded a public funeral for Ku Cheng-Hung and began protesting. Many were arrested and a trial was set for May 30th. In response to this, students planned a demonstration. On the morning of the 30th, just as the trial was beginning, the Shanghai Municipal Police arrested some 15 student ringleaders at the Nanking Road in the international settlement. The student protestors were taken to Laozha police station, but by 2:45pm a huge crowd gathered outside it. Demonstrators were demanding their release and many entered the police station. The police state the demonstrators tried to forcibly release the arrested and the crowd could have been up to 2000 people strong. There were only 12 cops, some Sikh's, Chinese and white officers. Allegedly chants were made for “kill the foreigners” and violence erupted. The police commissioner at the scene K.J. McEuen shouted in Wu Chinese "Stop! If you do not stop I will shoot!" At 3:37pm shots were fired into the crowd, at least 4 demonstrators were killed, another 5 died later of wounds and 14 were hospitalized. The next day saw more students going around placing posters and demanding shops stop selling or buying foreign goods. Then their leaders came to the Chinese chamber of Commerce with a list of demands. They sought punishment of those who shot the demonstrators and an end to the extraterritoriality rights of foreign powers in Shanghai as well as a closure of the international settlement. The president of the chamber of commerce was away at the time, but his deputy agreed to the press for the demands to be carried out. Obviously this was not going to happen and the deputy would send a message to the municipal council stating he said what he said under duress.  On June 1st martial law was declared, the Shanghai Volunteer corps, a type of militia was called up alongside foreign military assistance. Over the next month, together they raided demonstrators houses and protected businesses. Countless strikes broke out, alongside demonstrations and violence. Shops were looted, those who refused boycotts were beaten up. Perhaps up to 200 people died during the mayhem. Had what became known as the May thirtieth incident broken out years prior it would have amounted to nothing. Yet because of the other events going on, it became a rallying cry for a sort of crusade. The incident galvanized other strikes, demonstrations and boycotts across China. The main target of the public outrage moved from the Japanese to the British. Hong Kong and Guangzhou were deeply affected. Prominent Chinese citizens in Guangdong called for an anti-British strike. The KMT leaders and Soviet advisors considered the optics of the situation, some arguing they should attack the Anglo-French settlement in Shameen. The demonstrators began handing out anti-British leaflets in Hong Kong, and then a rumor emerged that the colonial government was planning to poison the colony's water supplies. Guangdong began offering free train passage to Hong Kong, greatly escalating the situation. Over 50,000 Chinese fled Hong Kong as a result of the chaos. Food prices skyrocketed and the colony became a ghost town by July. By the end of July nearly 250,000 had left Guangdong. To try and prevent the colonies economic collapse, the British loaned 3 million pounds. The two highest officials, Governor Sir Reginald Stubbs and Colonial secretary Claud Severn were quickly replaced, blamed for much of the crisis. For months anti-british boycotts went on, Hong Kong's economy was paralyzed. Her trade fell by half, her shipping by 40% and land renting by 60%. Similar situations arose in Guangzhou and Mukden. Feng Yuxiang seeking to earn public favor, began anti-west campaigns, calling for a public apology from Britain. Zhang Zuolin hammered the Shanghai situation by funding the police to arrest protestors alongside communists.  Meanwhile the situation in Beijing was tense, all were looking to see who would grab Sun Yat-Sen's title. Hu Hanmin had succeeded Sun Yat-Sen nominally in Guangzhou, but he was immediately challenged by the existence of Chen Jiongming over at Huizhou and the Warlord Tang Chiyao in Yunnan, who had just assumed the title of deputy grand marshal. This was a title Tang Chiyao had continuously refused to accept while Sun Yat-Sen was alive. Chen Jiongming had strengthened his position in eastern Guangdong immediately after Sun Yat-Sens departure for Beijing. He colluded with Tang Chiyao, and the Guangxi warlords Xumin and Liu Chenhuan. They were planning yet again to attack Guangzhou. However the Cantonese and Hunanese continents of the NRA remained loyal. Chiang Kai-Shek had the firm loyalty of the Whampoa graduates, whose first two classes had just graduated. Combined the KMT forces proceeded to conquer eastern Guangdong. A siege was erected against Huizhou, forcing Chen Jiongming to flee. The success of all of this, bolstered Chiang Kai-Sheks reputation and solidified his leadership over the Whampoa graduates. Meanwhile the New Guangxi Clique warlords rallied around Li Zongren, Bai Chungxu and Huang Shaoxiang seized control over Guangxi. Together they opposed the attempted comeback of the Old Guangxi clique warlord Lu Jungting. The Guangxi leader dumped Shen and fought Tang Chiyao's attempt to install Liu Chenhuan as governor over Guangxi. By Mid-July Huang Shaoxing became governor over Guangxi as Li Zongren and Bai Chungxu brokered an alliance with the KMT. On July 1st of 1925, the KMT proclaimed a national government in Guangzhou. A 16 memer political committee, chaired by Wang Jingwei. Liao Chungkai became the minister of Finance, who also led the left wing of the party. Xu Chungchih became minister of war, Hu Hanmin minister of Communications who led the right wing of the party. Despite the effort to balance the party, to the westerners and conservative chinese the party seemed far too radical. Borodin was nicknamed the “Emperor of Guangzhou” by the press and Zhou Enlai's position as commissar of Whampoa was obscuring Chiang Kai-Shek's efforts to turn the academy into his own personal instrument. A military reorganization accompanied the proclamation of the new government. The Whampoa graduates dominated the 1st Army, while Tan Yenkai's 15,000 Hunanese became the 2nd army and Chu Beite's Yunnanese became the 3rd. The 4th was a Cantonese force led by Li Chishen, the 5th was a Fujianese force within Guangdong under Li Fulin. A 6th army of Hunanese forces under Cheng Chen was formed in 1926 and later on a 7th army would be formed, 30,000 men strong led by the new Guangxi clique.All of these new units demonstrated loyalty to the KMT ideology, though their training varied greatly and their autonomy from local warlords also varied.  Liao Chungkai became the principal spokesman for Sun Yat-Sen's policies, and for cooperation with the Soviets and CCP. On August 20th, 1925 Liao Chungkai was on his way to a Kuomintang Executive Committee meeting in Guangzhou when suddenly 5 gunmen wielding Mauser C96's gunned him down as he exited his limousine. Everyone suspected Hu Hanmin or possibly Xu Chungchih of ordering the hit.  In Liao Chungkai, Chiang Kai-Shek lost an old friend. Grief came upon him and it hastened him to make decisions. He felt that the moment for dealing with plots and counterplots had arrived. The Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang met with the state and military councils and they decided emergency measures were in order. Wang Chingwei, Xu Chungchih, who was Chiang Kai-Sheks Command in Chief, and Chiang Kai-Shek were given unlimited powers. Four days after the assassination, Chiang Kai-Shek unleashed a detachment of his Whampoa cadets in a search party. They broke into the houses and offices of all government officials and seized documents. Roughly 100 men were arrested. Hu Hanmin was taken under guard to Whampoa and then was sent on a diplomatic mission to Russia. There was no diplomatic mission, it was exile.  Now Wang Jingwei, Xu Chungchih and Chiang Kai-SHek remained to lead the government. Xu had always been on good terms with Chiang Kai-Shek, but now they quarreled. Both men began arguing over the ongoingscuffle with Chen Jiongming. Xu insisted they should simply leave him alone, but it seemed old Chen was back at it again. Chiang Kai-Shek strongly disagreed and began accusing him of conspiring with Chen, or at minimum some of his officers were. By the end of September Xu simply departed for Shanghai, not wanting to take part it what was clearly becoming a power steal. With his prestige having suppressed the last Chen Jiongming attack in October, Chiang Kai-Shek began associating himself more and more with Sun Yat-Sen's legacy. He did so by repeatedly calling for a northern expedition. Meanwhile his contacts in Shanghai, mediated some negotiations with Sun Chuanfang. Sun Chuanfang by this point was consolidating his rule over 5 provinces: Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangxi and Anhui. In November of 1925 the right wing members of the KMT met in the presence of Sun Yat-Sen's coffin near Beijing, where they passed some resolutions calling for the end of the KMT-CCP alliance. After the assassination of Liao Chungkai, Wang Jingwei was pretty much unchallenged to became leader of the KMT's left wing. He declared the proposed resolutions null and void, calling for a counter meeting in Guangzhou in January of 1926. In the background of this, Chiang Kai-Shek continued to call for a Northern Expedition, the KMT left, CCP and Russian advisors advocated for social revolution and to support efforts by strikers in Guangzhou. Chiang Kai-Shek was now the Guangzhou garrison commander and the inspector General of the National Revolutionary Army, aka the NRA, so he personally began preparations for a northern expedition. Yet his authority was being threatened by the growing CCP presence within the KMT army and navy. In February of 1926 Chiang Kai-Shek approached Wang Jingwei on several occasions demanding he remove Russian advisers whom he accused of inciting mutiny amongst his subordinates.  In March a coalition of left wing and Russian advisors led to the communist, Li Zhilong to become the commander of the Guangzhou navy. Li Zhilong began cracking down on the navy's smuggling operations and replaced many ship captains with communists. On the 18th the fleet's flagship, gunboat Zhongshan departed without Chiang Kai-Sheks knowledge nor approval from Guangzhou or Whampoa. It would turn out, Li Zhilong was moving the ship to support uprisings in the area and this of course alarmed the KMT. The Zhongshan relocated from Guangzhou to the anchorage off Changzhou, but sailed back the next day. When prompted to what he was doing, Li Zhilong stated he moved the ship under orders from Chiang Kai-Shek. Chiang Kai-Shek upon hearing this became gravely alarmed, because he never gave such orders. Then Chiang Kai-Shek began receiving some bizarre phone calls. Chen Jieru, the second wife to Chiang Kai-Shek, reported Wang Jingwei's wife, Chen Bijun had called her over 5 times on the 18th, checking Chiang Kai-Shek's schedule. Likewise the Whampoa political director, Deng Yanda began calling, asking when would be the next time Chiang Kai-Shek would sail for Changzhou. Chiang Kai-Shek simply told Deng Yanda, not any time soon. Then Li Zhilong called Chiang Kai-Shek, reporting that Deng Yanda ordered him to depart. Later in his unofficial memoirs, Chiang Kai-Shek would assert, Wang Jingwei was the one calling everyone.  Chiang Kai-Shek responded to the situation by purchasing a ticket aboard a Japanese steamer and headed to Shantou. He believed something was afoot, perhaps a putsch or some kind of assassination attempt. Later on Chiang Kai-Shek stated it was all a ploy to kidnap him and exile him to Vladivostok. While his explanations were not very credible, his fear was genuine. It was an extremely volatile time in Guangzhou and plots by the left or the right were expected. Andrei Bubnov, head of the Soviet advisors mission to Guangzhou would later note in reports, the supposed incident was due to an aborted putsch, enacted by CCP members. On March 20th, Chiang Kai-Shek ordered the Zhongshan to come back to Guangzhou, and she did, mooring in front of the officer's club with her crew apparently at general quarters. At 4am on the 21st, Chiang Kai-Shek declared martial law and began arresting all known communists holding positions of authority. Li Zhilong was arrested from his bedroom, his warship was secured as Jiang Dingwen assumed his place at the Navy Bureau. Then Wu Tiecheng and Hui Dongsheng surrounded the residence of Wang Jingwei and the Soviet Advisors, placing them under house arrest. Deng Yanda was arrested, the Hong Kong Strike Committee saw a crackdown and Liu Zhi arrested many communists of the 2nd division and those at Whampoa in the 1st Corps, such as Zhou Enlai. Chiang Kai-Shek's loyal men disarmed the Communists paramilitary workers guard, two entire garrisons were dissolved. Borodin and Vasily Blyukher were also both arrested. All those arrested were removed from their positions and departed Guangzhou. Chiang Kai-Shek carefully explained to the public that his actions were taken specifically against uncooperative individuals and that he was not simply targeting communists. But yeah he was just targeting communists.  When Chiang Kai-Shek and Wang Jingwei were left the last two with unlimited power they began to go at each other. Wang Jingwei certainly did not approve of the mass arrest of communists. Apparently Wang Jingwei told Chiang Kai-Shek to leave Guangzhou at some point. Wang Jingwei apparently was trying to scare him off, by suggesting he leave, but Chiang Kai-Shek did not do so. Suddenly Wang Jingwei became quite sick, apparently he had a high fever. He was visited by Chen Gongbo, Tan Yankai, Li Jishen, Zhu Peide and T.V Soong the current minister of finance. Apparently Wang Jingwei was pretty pissed off complaining to them all that Chiang Kai-Shek had gone over the top. A Nationalist executive Committee was convened on the 22nd, and a compromise was established. Wang Jingwei would take a vacation to France.  In reality of course, Wang Jingwei had simply lost a quasi game of thrones. Wang Jingwei had more than likely tried some crooked attempts to kill or get rid of Chiang Kai-Shek, he failed and Chiang Kai-Shek responded firmly. Wang Jingwei had felt it prudent he simply retire in the end, he departed 5 days after the chaos had ensued. Once he had reached a safe location, he wrote to Chiang Kai-Shek that henceforth he was eschewing all political activity, basically “please don't kill me”. Thus Chiang Kai-Shek emerged the sole survivors of the original three successors to Dr Sun Yat-Sen. All of this became known as the Guangzhou Coup or Canton Coup, and what exactly happened is sort of still a mystery. It's a lot of he said, she said kind of stuff. The end of the coup effectively stopped the CCP and Soviets from trying to undermine the KMT for the time being. Despite the quasi war between the two sides, an awkward balance emerged. Chiang Kai-Shek needed Moscow's help for the Northern Expedition. The CCP and Soviets needed the KMT to help them grow. Chiang Kai-Shek took a delicate touch henceforth, making conciliatory moves. Chiang Kai-Shek met with Borodin and they had what was described by Chiang Kai-Shek as a calm and friendly conversation. Almost immediately after the incident Chiang Kai-Shek began criticizing the extremely anti-communist members of the party. He became a kind of chief of police between the communists and anti-communists, but it was all a charade. In a political sense, Chiang Kai-Shek emerged extremely right. He believed something had to be done to curb the communist influence in the KMT. Thus in a rather fiery speech he began demanding the communists stop attacking Sun Yat-Sen's three principles. No communist could admit to doing such a thing, it was rather blasphemous, though they were doing it. So it was a safe way to try and keep the communists in check. Chiang Kai-Shek followed it up by stating no communists should hold high office in the Kuomintang and the communists begrudgingly abided by it. Chiang Kai-Shek then during a Central Executive Committee meeting, suggested that all the communists should be expelled from the Kuomintang, but the Committee voted that one down. However there was an agreement that relations between the two groups needed to be revised and more importantly, the communists were to hand over a list of their members to the Kuomintang. To all of these things said, Borodin listened and never said a word in disagreement. It seemed Chiang Kai-Shek and Borodin had made a promise to each other to get alone at least until the Northern Expedition was successfully carried through. Chiang Kai-Shek had reached an agreement with Moscow. The Soviets would maintain their financial and arming of the KMT, if some advisors were kept on. They also agreed to get the CCP to hand over a list of all their memes in the KMT and that no communists would hold top cabinet positions. On April 3rd, Chiang Kai-Shek cabled an official public telegram stating the entire incident “was a limited and individual matter of a small number of members of our Party who had carried out an anti-revolutionary plot". Chiang Kai-Shek removed some right wingers from leadership such as Wu Tiechang, forbade right-wing demonstrations and no one was to ever publicly question the First United Front. It seemed this was done to appease the soviets. While Joseph Stalin backed the alliance, Trotsky opposed it. Chiang Kai-Shek was formally handed leadership of the party and army, ending civilian oversight over the NRA. Soon some emergency decrees would be levied to expand Chiang Kai-Shek's power. Chiang Kai-Shek had become the new generalissimo. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The First United Front nearly collapsed as a result of a real game of thrones being played out after the death of Dr Sun Yat-Sen, the father of the nation. In the face of many rivals, it was the dark horse, Chiang Kai-Shek who came out on top. He would consolidate the strength of the south and soon march north to take Beijing. 

Last time we spoke about the first Jiangsu-Zhejiang War. Wu Peifu and Zhang Zuolin became swift rivals after the first Zhili-Fengtian War. The Zhili clique remained in control of Beijing and began bullying everyone into submission, trying to unify China under their thumb. Zhang Zuolin went to work reorganizing and retraining his army, for another war was looming over the horizon. Then in the southeast of China, conflict emerged between Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. The Zhili backed Qi Xieyuan wanted to control Shanghai, which was under the control of Lu Yungxiang of the Anhui clique. The Anhui clique were on the death bed, Zhejiang was the last province under their control, thus he elected to fight for it. Lu Yungxiang sought help from anyone who possibly could help him, such as Zhang Zuolin and Dr Sun Yat-Sen, but little did he know but he was contributing to a much larger war.    #105 the Second Zhili-Fengtian War Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. Hello again, so after the first Zhili-Fengtian war of 1922, the Zhili warlords seized control over Beijing. Cao Kun bribed his way into the presidency as Zhang Zuolin licked his wounds and went back to Manchuria where he rebuilt his entire army. Zhang Zuolin appointed Yang Yuting as inspector general of the Mukden arsenal and Wang Yintai as director of the department of materials. He began purchasing more Renault FT tanks, increased his military production, now seeing 150 artillery pieces, 1000 machine guns, 60,000 rifles, 100,000 artillery shells and 600,000 rifle rounds pumping out of factories annually. He increased his navy and airforce, naming his son Zhang Xueliang as director of the aviation office. He purchased German and Italian aircraft, nearing 300 planes within 4 groups. Air bases and fields were built alongside naval headquarters and training schools in places like Harbin. To improve communications, additional water and coal supply stations were built in Suizhong, Xingcheng and Dayaogou so he could rapidly deploy troops via rail. Roads were further developed to increase transportation in areas without rail, each army was given wire communications such as telegraph or telephone lines, linking them to their general HQ's. Radio communication units were also developed, radio stations were built in Shenyang, Harbin and Jin county. The Fengtian military was reformed. Commanders like Bao Deshan and Xu Changyou who were blamed for losing the first zhili-fengtian war were court-martialed and executed in the spring of 1923. The rising star, Dogmeat General Zhang Zongchang aided Zhang Zuolin by massively recruiting White Russians who brought over all sorts of expertise and skills. The White Russians were commanded by Konstantin Petrovich Nechaev, alongside them Zhang also hired Japanese units. The Fengtian army expanded to 27 brigades from its original 25, organized into 3 armies of 3 divisions. Each division had three brigades. The cavalry was expanded from three to four divisions, with three brigades forming a division and the rest attached to infantry divisions as cavalry companies. The artillery regiments expanded from 4 to 10. Each division consisted of three brigades with either an infantry brigade or a combined brigade, and every division had an engineering battalion and a transportation battalion attached. Combined brigades were bolstered with an engineering company and a transportation company. All said an done the strength of the Fengtian army totaled more than 250,000 troops, and its performance was significantly improved. The best troops were found in the 2nd Brigade, commanded by Zhang Xueliang, and the 6th Brigade, commanded by Guo Songling, and they were viewed as the model units of the Fengtian army. The catalyst for what would be known as the second Zhili-Fengtian War, occurred on September 3rd of 1924, the first Jiangsu-Zhejiang War. When Lu Yungxiang of Zhejiang refused to cede administration of Shanghai to Qi Xieyuan, both Zhang Zuolin and Dr. Sun Yat-sen pledged to defend the neutrality of Zhejiang and end pulling everyone into a larger war. On September 4th, Dr Sun Yat-Sen held a meeting at his mansion in Guangzhou. There he announced he would assist Zhejiang to preserve Guangdong, thus he was enacting the Northern Expedition. His plan for the northern expedition was to first attack Jiangxi, after it was conquered next was Anhui. From there his KMT forces would link up with the Zhejiang forces, near the Jinpu road where they could march north to take Beijing. On September the 5th Dr Sun Yat-Sen publicly denounced Cao Kun and Wu Peifu and asked the people of Guangdong to work harder than they ever have so they could eliminate the warlords and China could be ruled by her people again. On September the 4th, in response to the war in the southeast, Zhang Zuolin declared war on the Zhili clique on the grounds of being in an alliance with Zhejiang and Dr Sun Yat-Sen. He also denounced Cao Kun, bringing up his bribery scheme. Zhang Zuolin's statement, and forgive me its poorly translated went something like this. "Curse Cao Kun with Power who bribed congressmen, raising teeth and claws, and stole power. Cao Kun harms the people. Now I Zhang Zuolin in charge of Manchuria and her people, and who is loyal to the people, and  is duty-bound will lead the three armies to wipe out the thieves." On September the 9th, Duan Qirui added his voice in a telegram against Cao Kun accusing him "of not knowing who the country and the people are, what ethics, justice and integrity are and unleashing four provinces to attack Zhejiang, excluding dissidents, hurting innocent people, and greedy for his own dignity. You have committed a heinous sin, and you have gone too far. How can you survive? The virtuous and powerful people in the world, who have great responsibilities for a while, will definitely be able to do their duty and act bravely when they see justice." On the 15th of September, Zhang Zuolin issued another telegram to Cao Kun, in the form of an ultimatum "This year natural disasters are prevalent and hungry people are everywhere. I have tried to say that attacking Zhejiang is wrong, and I have the strength to respond in favor of peace. However, the ink has not yet dried. Yet at the same time, the Zhili marched into Fengtian, detained Shanhaiguan trains, and blocked traffic. What was the purpose of this? In recent years, Cao Kun has been a puppet of Wu Peifu, which has caused public resentment. The impossibility of a military expedition is evident from the successive defeats of the Zhili army. We planned to send another envoy, but the train traffic has been cut off and we cannot enter Beijing. Therefore, we wait for the final answer." Indeed on September the 13th suddenly all the trains running along the Beijing-Fengtian railway stopped on Zhili orders. The war in Zhejiang had provided Wu Peifu with the occasion to force a showdown with Zhang Zuolin. Wu Peifu felt confident he would win. Wu Peifu had mobilized over a quarter of a million troops, divided into 3 armies. Wu Peifu trusted his military abilities and felt his subordinates were loyal to him, he was highly mistaken in that last part.  It would turn out, the christian general, Feng Yuxiang had major grievances. If you remember from the last episode, when ordered to attack Lu Yungxiang, Feng Yuxiang had refused. Instead Feng Yuxiang weaved a web, he pulled Wang Huaiqing to his side, the Beijing garrison commander Sun Yueh and Hu Qingyi. He complained to them about his army being slighted in the distribution of munition and supplies and he would move his troops very slowly out of Beijing when the war began. As it turned out, secret negotiations had been made. Zhang Zuolin's son Zhang Xueliang in the spring of 1923 had sent a letter to Feng Yuxiang and then his most trusted lt, Fu Xingpei to Beijing to secretly meet with him. Fu Xingpei met with Feng Yuxiang and his chief of staff Liu Ji at a secluded location in Nanyuan. The first meeting was brief, but fruitful as follow up meetings were made, now mediated through Duan Qiriu. Duan Qiriu brought the parties over to his residence in the Japanese quarter of Tientsin. There Feng Yuxiang was given a bribe between 1-2.5 million Japanese Yen. This bribe came from Zhang Zuolin's Japanese supplied war chest. Zhang Zuolin afterwards had every reason to believe Feng Yuxiang was in his pocket so he concentrated most of his forces around Shanhaiguan. The Zhili Cliques forces would come from the provinces of Henan, Shandong, Rehe (knowns as Jehol today), Chahar and Suiyuan. Meanwhile the Fengtian would have troops from Jilin, Heilongjiang and Fengtian. The 2nd war certainly exceed the first by a large margin and it would also involve battles over land, sea and air. The Zhili held an edge in numbers, but alienated generals would ultimately lose them the war. There was also an enormous technological gap between the Zhili and Fengtian armies. As I had mentioned the Fengtian had purchased a lot of western and Japanese weaponry and equipment. The Zhili clique also purchased western materials, but they were far behind the Fengtian army. Furthermore the Zhili clique had just experienced a series of small wars in Sichuan, Hunan, Fujian, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong. Their troops were exhausted, lacked pay, and thus morale was not high. Zhang Zuolin's Fengtian army faced 4 major objectives to see the Zhili clique defeated. Ultimately they needed to capture Beijing and Tianjin. Yet to do so they first had to retake Shanhaiguan so their forces could enter Xujialing. Thus Zhang Zuolin would need to gather his forces near Shanhaiguan to capture it. This task fell to his 1st and 2nd army led by Jiang Dengxuan and Zhang Xueliang. If Shanhaiguan could not be taken, at least two brigades would be needed in the Qiansuo region, where a railroad station was roughly 20 kms east of Shanhaiguan. Once that region was secured, the main force could redeploy around Suizhong county for a second attempt against Shanhaiguan. Next the 2nd army would advance into Rehe, Yi County and Dayaogou. They would then take Chaoyang, Jianping, Chengde and Lingyuan. Most of this responsibility fell onto Zhang Zongchang's 3rd Combined Brigade and Li Jinglin's 1st Division. After they completed this they would enter the Lengkou pass and take Luanzhou. A Fengtian cavalry group would attack Rehe with the objective of taking Chifeng. The cavalry group would also cover the flank of other Fengtian forces and mop up the enemy left behind. If the situation arose, the Cavalry group could also attack along the Great Wall via the Xifengkou or Gubeikou pass. The Fengtian reserve forces would be deployed between Xingcheng and Suizhong to guard Jinzhou. The Fengtian air forces headquartered at Shenyang would mobilize 3 groups for the war effort under the direct command of the 1st and 2nd Armies known as the Combined Corps. Other air units would be deployed to Yi county under the command of Zhang Xueliang. Wu Peifu took the title of commander in chief and set up his headquarters in Sizhaotang. Wu Peifu made special arrangements for the battle; his 1st army led by Peng Shouxin would take an eastern route advancing along the Beijing-Fengcheng line to attack Liaoshen from Shanhaiguan; the 2nd army of Wang Huaiqing would advance along the middle route from Xikou to attack Rechao; and the third army of Feng Yuxiang would take the western route from Gubeikou to attack Kailu. Wu Peifu also had set up a commander in chief of maritime defense Zheng Shiqi stationed at Shandong and a naval commander in chief Du Xiui. His air force was organized into 4 groups stationed in Beidaihe, Luanxian, Chaoyang and the Zhili aviation department, over 70 aircraft in total.  On September the 14th, Zhang Zuolin as commander in chief of the Fengtian army led them down the border area. Likewise Wu Peifu did the same from Luoyang. On the 15th the 23rd Brigade of Li Shuangkai, part of Li Jinglin's 2nd army engaged the Zhili 4th battalion of Yijun Zhenbiao around Yizhou, Jiuguan and Taimen. This effectively kicked off the war. From there the war front would run from Chaoyang to Jidong, with major battles taking place in Rehe, Shanhaiguan, Chaoyang, Chifeng, Jiumenmen and Shimenzhai.  The Fengtian forces planned to unleash their offensive against Shanhaiguan once the initiative was won in Rehe. Therefore Zhang Zuolin personally led the battle in Rehe. The 1st Fengtian army divided into a north and south group. The southern group attacked from Beizhen, passing through Chaoyang and Lingyuang to enter Xifengkou with Wu Junsheng's cavalry as the main force. The north group ran from Tongliao to Kailu, then headed south to Chengde via Chifeng, then would launch an attack at the western part of Xifengkou.  The southern attack went pretty smooth as the Zhili army did not put up serious resistance. On the 16th the Fengtian forces seized Yizhou and Fuxin. After this they concentrated their attacks against Chaoyang. Liu Fufu defended Chaoyang with the Zhili 26th brigade of the 12th division, but he only put up a symbolic defense, quickly abandoning the city. On the 23rd Chaoyang was occupied by Fengtian forces who scoured the county. Meanwhile the northern group attacked Jianping, Lingyuan and Chifeng. During the battle for Lingyuan, the Fengtian encountered determined resistance from Zhili forces led by Wang Huaiqing and Dong Zhengguo. Both sides suffered heavy casualties, but the Fengtian managed to take the city. Simultaneously the 2nd Fengtian army forces led by Xu Lanzhou and Wu Guangxin attacked Chifeng. The battle for the city raged for a few days seeing Fengtian air forces bomb the city until October 8th when it was captured. The fall of Chifeng marked a decisive moment in the battle for Rehe, the Fengtian had taken the initiative. Now the leading Fengtian troops began a rapid advance towards Lengkou at the foot of the Great Wall. Both sides knew the entire battle depended on Shanhaiguan. The Zhili had heavily fortified it and following the loss of Rehe they continued to strengthen it. Wu Peifu dispatched Peng Shouxin to setup the defenses of Shanhaiguan. Zhang Zuolin had Jiang Dengxuan and Zhang Xueliang form a new headquarters near Shanhaiguan as Guo Songling led the 2nd and 6th Brigades to frontally attack it. As Guo Songling did so, Jiang Dengxuan  and his deputy commander Han Linchun led the 4th and 16th brigades to face the Zhili forces north of Jiumenmen. Small scale battles broke out on the 17th that gradually escalated. On the 29th and 30th, the Fengtian began unleashing artillery and aerial bombardment upon the Zhili positions between Shanhaiguan and Changli. During that process the Fengtian forces seized Wanjiatun, Longwang Temple, Yaojiazhuang and other towns. By October 4th the Fentgian army approached the position of the Zhili 15th division. On the 7th Zhang Zuolin issued a general attack order, sending Fengtian forces across the board. The first line of Zhili troops relied on the solid fortifications and fired back upon the advancing enemy. The Fengtian gradually turned their attention to the Jiumenmen Gate located at the northwest part of the Shanhaiguan pass. On the 8th Jiang Dengxuan personally led the 19th Brigade to attack the Haungtu Ridge on the northside of Jiumenmen. His forces quickly encircled Jiumenmen before the 2nd and 6th brigades stormed and occupied it. The fall of Jiumenmen severed demoralized the Zhili defenders whose lines began to waiver. The Fengtian began breaching lines, capturing Liyu, Waiyu, Xiangmayu and now outflanked Shanhaiguan. At this point a brigade was sent to attack Shimenzhai along the north side of Jiumentou. Shimenzhai is roughly 25 kms away from Shanhaiguan, if captured the Fengtian could use it as a springboard to attack Qinhuangdao, cutting off the Zhili armies line of retreat. In order to protect the line of retreat, Peng Shouxin organized a force to reinforce Shimenzhai. On the 11th, Wu Peifu came over to Shanhaiguan, while also inspecting Shimenzhai, Zhaojiayu, Shahezhai and other significant Zhili positions. Seeing Jiumenmen had fallen, Wu Peifu ordered forces to recapture it on the 14th. The Fengtian defenders there were put into a desperate battle to hold onto it. On the 15th, a Fengtian regiment led by Sun Xuchang broke through the Zhili defensive line. On the 16th the Fengtian forces surged through the breach and stormed Shimenzhai. The Zhili forces routed in the area allowing the Fengtian forces to quickly seize Liujiang. On the 17th Zheng Xizhen led the Zhili 6th brigade to reinforce the battlefield emerging north of Qinhuangdao. Now we need to take a step away from the battle, because a lot of things were happening all over the place, that would have a deep impact on the war. While all of this was going on in the far north, in the south, Dr Sun Yat-Sen personally led the KMT forces north to try and prevent Zhili commander Sun Chuanfang from reinforcing his Zhili comrades in the north. Yet like again, in a fashion that just kept recurring, an issue came about. The Guangzhou merchants corps and forces led loyal to Chen Jiongming began an uprising in Guangzhou. Sun Yat Sen was forced to turn his army back to quell the rebellion. As Sun Yat-Sen pulled back, Sun Chuanfang had brought his forces into Zhejiang and Shanghai.  Meanwhile another ploy on the part of Zhang Zuolin paid off big time. The christian general Feng Yuxiang who was commanding the Zhili 3rd army began making some trouble. When the Zhili 2nd army suffered its initial defeat, Wang Huaiqing sent word asking for help from Feng Yuxiang. Instead he ordered his 3rd army to stay put at the Gubeikou pass.  Now back in the battle Wu Peifu had come to the front lines and was taking charge of operations. Zhili reinforcements arrived from Henan and Shanxi led by Zhang Fulai and began helping a counter attack against Shimenzhai. The Fengtian defenders also reinforced their lines, with Jiang Dengxuan taking command of the front lines personally. Despite the reinforcements, the Fengtian defenses were beginning to crumble, their casualties mounting. At the same time the main Fengtian forces were fighting at Shanhaiguan, failing to make progress. Then the Fengtian army received unconfirmed intelligence from the Japanese, that the Zhili clique had enlisted the Zhengji shipping company to use 13 transports to move 4 divisions directly into the rear of the Fengtian forces via the Taku Forts. The Japanese intelligence did not indicate where the landings would be made however. The Fengtian commanders believed it was possibly Yingkou or Huludao, perhaps both. Many Fengtian commanders called for deploying the general reserve as a rear guard, but the deputy chief of the general staff, Fu Xingpei opposed the idea, claiming the Jiumenkou sector required them. Yang Yuting the chief of the general staff worried the terrain of Jiumenkou was far too narrow and restrictive to deploy such large number of troops. Finally Zhang Zuolin ended the debate by ordering the General Reserve, under the command of Zhang Zuoxiang to rush to Jiumenkou. Despite committing the General reserve, things did not improve. In fact some interpersonal problems emerged. Zhang Xueliang and Guo Songling had secretly redeployed 8 infantry regiments and two artillery brigades from Shanhaiguan to the Jiumenkou sector. These units were to be led by Guo Songling, but the artillery battalion commander, Yan Zongzhou, a classmate of Guo Songling was removed from command by the artillery regiment commander Chen Chen. Upon hearing the news from Yan Zongzhou, enraged Guo Songling removed Chen Chen of command and gave it back to Yan Zongzhou. However Jiang Dengxuan and Han Linchun had given approval to Chen Chen when he asked to remove Yan Zongzhou, so now they were embarrassed. They then complained to Zhang Zuolin about Guo Songling's actions. Zhang Zuolin ordered both Chen Chen and Yan Zongzhou to go back to their original commands, and this only pissed off Guo Songling more. Like a kindergarten aged child Guo Songling took his 8th infantry regiment out of the battlefield and retreated to the rear. Zhang Xueliang then hunted him down and smooth-talked him to come back and engage the enemy. This entire stupid situation could have very well cost them the battle, fortunately it happened at night and the Zhili army none the wiser did not exploit the situation.  Back over in the Rehe front, Zhang Zongchang stormed the Lengkou pass against 4 Zhili divisions; the 9th led by Dong Zhengguo, the 20th led by Yan Zhitang, the 1st Shaanxi division led by Hu Jingyi and the 23rd led by Wang Chengbin. Unfortunately Wang Chengbin and Hu Jingyi had formed a pact with Feng Yuxiang and literally stepped aside during Zhang Zongchangs attack. To add insult to injury, Yan Zhitang and Dong Zhengguo hated each other and each held back to preserve their own strength. Again in the warlord era, petty warlords would pull this kind of shit all the time. As Zheng Zongchangs forces attacked, basically everyone fled Lengkou. Seizing the opportunity Zhang Zongchang pushed even deeper into the enemy lines. It was around this time, word spread that the First Jiangsu-Zhejiang War had concluded in a Zhili victory, thus it seemed if Shanhaiguan was not taken swiftly, the Zhili would win the war.  Yet the dark horse that was General Feng Yuxiang struck. On October 22nd, Feng Yuxiang betrayed the Zhili Clique. Feng Yuxiang formed a truce with the Fengtian commander Li Jingling on the night of October 20th. He then suddenly withdrew 8000 troops of Wu Peifu's 3rd and 26th Divisions, leaving only 4000 men at their defensive lines. He took said troops and secretly stormed Beijing where he performed a coup against President Cao Kun. At midnight on October 23rd the commander of the Beijing guards, Sun Yueh admitted Feng Yuxiang and his men into Beijing. Together they seized control over  key government buildings and gates. Feng Yuxiang then forced Cao Kun to dismiss Wu Peifu from his military positions. stripped him of the presidency and placed him under house arrest. Afterwards Feng Yuxiang issued a public statement denouncing the civil war and urged the warlords to settle their differences via negotiations. Feng Yuxiangs subordinates then took control of the railway line between Tientsin and Shanhaiguan and the railway line at Changhsintian south of Beijing. Meanwhile Yan Xishan dispatched a force from Shanxi to seize the railway junction at Shihchiachuang, blocking any movement from Hunan along the Peking-Hankou railway. Thus Qi Xieyuan and Sun Chuanfang could no longer advance north to aid Wu Peifu. Back at the battle, Zhang Zongchang saw the thinning of the defensive lines when Feng Yuxiang pulled men out and stormed it alongside Li Jinglin. Their forces broke through and advanced south along the Luan River towards Luanzhou, then in the direction of Tianjin. They seized the train station at Luanzhou as Sun Xuchang's 10th Brigade captured Jiumenkou. The Fengtian cavalry then stormed the Xifengkou pass and pushed forward. By this point the Zhili morale had all but disappeared as news of Feng Yuxiang's coup in Beijing was spreading along the lines. Even cry baby Guo Songling, hearing the news, grabbed his force and performed an all out charge into the Zhili lines breaking through and advanced eastwards. Now cut off between Qinhuangdao and Shanhaiguan, on the 31st of October, many high ranking Zhili officers began fleeing via ships at Qinhuangdao. Countless Zhili forces were surrounded and began mass surrendering. Wu Peifu meanwhile fled first to Tianjin where he began frantically telegraphing Zhili armies in Jiangsu, Henan, Hubei and Zhejiang for help. Things got even worse, more railway lines were cut by Anhui clique members such as Zheng Shiqi in Shandong, Cangzhou and Machang. Likewise Zheng Shishangs cut lines of the Jinpu railway at Hanzhuang and even Yan Xishan came out of his turtle shell to cut the Jinghan railway line at Shijiazhuang. The Fengtian army overran Tangshan and Lutai asFeng Yuxiang's forces stormed Yangcun and Beicang, forcing Wu Peifu to flee to Junliangcheng. Then Duan Qiriu sent a message to Wu Peifu advising he should depart by sea. Completely surrounded with no allies, Wu Peifu fled with 2000 troops on the transport Huajia on November 3rd. He went to Tanggu where Sun Chuanfang defended him.  It had been the most impressive war of the warlord period to that point. Nearly 450,000 troops had been involved in a month-long war along the Great Wall area from Shanhaiguan to Beijing. The casualties are tough to estimate, perhaps 20-30,000 perished. After taking Beijing, Feng Yuxiang reorganized his forces in the 1st Guominjun army, hiring his co-conspirators such as Sun Yueh and Hu Chingyi who would eventually lead the 2nd and 3rd armies. On November 5th, Zhang Zuolin removed Emperor Puyi from the Forbidden City. Puyi went into exile in Tianjin where the Japanese would keep a close eye upon.  Zhang Zuolin, Feng Yuxiang and Duan Qiriu then met in Tianjin where they agreed to form a provisional government with Duan Qiriu as its figurehead. The choice of Duan Qiriu seemed to be palatable to everyone, including the remaining Zhili warlords in the Yangtze region. On December 9th, Duan Qiriu's government was recognized. Dr Sun Yat-Sen of course refused to recognize the new Beiyang government and would begin to flirt more with the CCP and their larger backer, the Soviet Union.  For now the Beiyang government, for whatever it was actually worth, remained in the hands of three players. Duan Qiriu who no longer possessed a strong army, Feng Yuxiang who had just shown himself to be quite a treacherous man and did not wield a very strong army and lastly Zhang Zuolin who now wielded the largest army in China, was backed by Japan and controlled vast sums of territory.  I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. So the First Jiangsu-Zhejiang and Second Zhili-Fengtian Wars were now over. It seems Zhang Zuolin had just become king of the hill, but what did that mean for China? Would Zhang Zuolin pursue a policy of reunifying China? Would he expand south? Or would the chaos continue, what do you think?  

Last time we spoke about the first Zhili-Fengtian War. The Anhui-Zhili War of 1920 saw the defeat of the Anhui clique by the Zhili and Fengtian cliques, reshaping territorial control. Despite their victory, stability remained nowhere to be seen in North China. Factionalism persisted, with alliances shifting and power struggles intensifying. Zhang Zuolin of the Fengtian clique emerged a significant player with Japanese backing while Wu Peifu of the Zhili clique earned fame as a military genius. Soon a rivalry emerged between the two leading figures while they also tried to unify China. Meanwhile, in South China, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen's plans for a Northern Expedition faced challenges amidst internal dissent and external pressures. In the end Zhang Zuolin formed a grand coalition to defeat Wu Peifu and it backfired spectacularly. Wu Peifu won the first Zhili-Fengtian War and now it would be him in the driver's seat in Beijing.   #104 the First Jiangsu-Zhejiang War Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. Wu Peifu, who had been born of poor parents in 1874 and had earned the lowest degree in the traditional Qing examination system, decided he would seek out a military career in the Beiyang Army. By 1905 he became a junior officer to Cao Kun's 3rd Division. Wu Peifu had a traditional confucian upbringing, he remained loyal to Cao Kun because of that special confucian bond between mentor and student. He remained loyal despite Cao Kun's numerous failings, even when he threw his lot in with Zhang Zuolin to save his own ass at Wu Peifu's expense. The Zhili victory during the first Zhili-Fengtian war emboldened Cao Kun's ambitions, he soon unleashed his henchmen all over Zhili province snatching up major positions. Cao Kun began a campaign of bribery and intimidation, something very reminiscent of the late Yuan Shikai. After his victory, Wu Peifu returned to Henan province, sending the newly appointed inspector general of the army, Feng Yuxiang to Beijing. Those in Henan strongly petitioned against Feng Yuxiangs transfers as he had gained an excellent reputation as the civil administrator in Henan. Where Wu Peifu went it seemed banditry and extortion flourished. Yet Wu Peifu needed Feng Yuxiang to be in Beijing so he could re-establish his authority in his home base. As we had seen in the last episode, the Zhili Clique was not sturdy. Unlike the Fengtian and Anhui, the Zhili clique was made up of a lot of riff raff, who only joined forces as a means to an end, notably to get rid of their enemies. Feng Yuxiang concentrated his army at Nanyuan, due south of the capital. He went to work, checking fingernails, training his men in the good word of the lord, his men being a single division and 3 mixed brigades now. Feng Yuxiang had come a long way, now probably the most powerful warlord in Zhili province, and he made sure to establish good relations with Cao Kun and his brother Wang Huaiqing the commander of the Beijing police. In June of 1923 Feng Yuxiang and Wang Huaiqing would jointly present their resignations to President Li Yuanhong, stating unless their men were paid, they could no longer be responsible for maintaining order in the capital. Yes the finances of China were in a terrible state. Chinese diplomats were struggling abroad to find foreign banks to loan money, and even they were not getting paid and were resigning en masse. Wu Peifu likewise was not receiving a cent from the central government. After several days of standoff, Li Yuanhong fled Beijing on June 13th, taking the presidential seals with him, issuing orders countersigned by only a single cabinet minister who backed him, the minister of agriculture, and Yunnan general Li Kenyuan. It seems for Li Kenyuan it was a bad call, for Cao Kun forced him out of office within a few months. Cao Kun then bribed his way into office by October 10th. It was an infamous bribery story. Apparently Cao Kun bribed assembly members with 5000 silver dollars each. This act was so egregious, it basically pissed off everyone. The hate tossed Cao Kun's way would help bolster Dr Sun Yat-Sen's continuing efforts in south china, basically saving his career. Cao Kun began his presidency proclaiming a constitution incorporating ideas of a federalist government and then promoted Feng Yuxiang and other notable generals to the rank of Marshal. While Cao Kun began consolidating his control in Zhili, a humiliated Zhang Zuolin would lick his tiger wounds and rebuild in the northeast.  After rallying his troops back together once back in Manchuria, Zhang Zuolin quickly declared his 3 provinces in Manchuria were independent of China. The Beijing government under Cao Kun had immediately gone to work trying to coerce defections amongst the Fengtian generals. Cao Kun tossed extravagant positions, such as governorships to them, but only one notable General, Kao Shihpin took the bribe and rebelled against Zhang Zuolin. Zhang Zuolin's loyal subordinate, great friend to the show, the dogmeat general Zhang Zongchang, easily defeated the defector. Now that Manchuria was independent, Zhang Zuolin firmly repressed any efforts of his provincial assemblies to create civil governments independent of his military control. Thus governmental positions in Manchuria remained in the hands of loyal Fengtian Clique members. Because Zhang Zuolin was now very hostile to all in the Zhili clique, relations with Dr Sun Yat-Sen improved. Thus Zhang Zuolin began propagating the language of national unification, anti-imperialism etc etc. Economically Zhang Zuolin began developing railway lines and built a new port at Hulutao, both of which were competing with the Japanese owned South Manchurian Railway company and port at Dairen. Zhang Zuolin knew full well most of China regarding him as a Japanese puppet. The Japanese however completely failed him in the first-zhili fengtian war, thus he was trying to sport some backbone against them.  Zhang Zuolin and his top commanders took their loss in 1922 to heart. He began a large-scale reorganization of his military. In 1922 his forces had been organized into 5 Divisions, of which the 16th and 28th disintegrated. The 27th and 29th along with a new reorganized 1st were retained at the divisional level, while the rest of the troops formed into the 1st to 27th Mixed Brigades and 1st to 5th Cavalry Brigades. He standardized the units, 150 men formed a company, 3 companies a battalion, 3 battalions a regiment, 3 regiments a brigade at 4000 men strong. He reshuffled commanders and began promoting officers with professional education and less so the banditry opium smoking types he typically preferred in the past. He really made an effort to purchase new weaponry and expanded the output of the Mukden arsenal.  During the warlord Era, modern weaponry was expensive to come by, those like the banditry that made up the Fengtian clique used what they got their hands on. The Hanyang 88 based off the German Gewehr 1888 had been the standard Qing rifle and was widely available. There was also a smaller quantity of Type 1 rifles, a Chinese knockoff of the Mauser Model 1907. Given Manchuria's proximity to Russia and Japan, rifles that found their way into Fengtian hands included the Russian Mosin-Nagant 1891, Japanese Murata's and Arisakas of 1897 and 1905. These were not ideal, pretty outdated, but in general most of the Chinese warlord armies were branding antiquated rifles. In 1922 the Mukden Arsenal was capable of producing just a small amount of ammunition. Zhang Zuolin had always relied on piecemeal packages given to him, at first from Yuan Shikai, then Duan Qirui and the Japanese on and off. Most of the supplies he got were japanese made. He also managed to seize a lot from the Anhui clique during their war in 1920. Something of great value he often seized were cars, by 1926 there were only something like 8000 cars in all of China, it was a very hot commodity. French Renault FT tanks had been deployed to Vladivostok for the allied intervention and siberian campaign, many were sold to him after 1919. Zhang Zuolin would poor 17 million yuan into expanding the Mukden Arsenal after his loss in 1922, he hired numerous foreign advisors to overlook the process. The Mukden Arsenal ballooned to an operating budget of a million yuan, employing nearly 30,00 workers, including foreign specialists. Fengtian would become China's largest arms importer, purchasing from Germany, Italy, France and of course the majority came from Japan. Type 3 Heavy machine guns from Japan flooded in and 14 Renaults from France. The Fengtian began utilizing mines, barbed wire, armored trains, particularly Zhang Zongchang and tanks when possible. Zhang Zongchang  purchased 4 new gunboats who became the nucleus of a naval force in the Gulf of Chihli and began developing an air force. By 1923 he purchased 40 French Breguet aircraft that would be operated by 20 foreign pilots. He also looked to the future, at his son Zhang Xueliang. By 1923 his army was nearly 200,000 strong, certainly formidable, but ridden with issues. A year of intense training had greatly improved the Fengtian forces, but Zhang Zuolin was behind those like Dr Sun Yat-Sen, Wu Peifu and even Feng Yuxiang in trying to infuse within the training some sort of ideology. Zhang Zongchang rose to further prominence during this time period. He had of course gained a lot of respect from Zhang Zuolin after quelling Kao Shihpin. He began amassing a great fortune through extortion, violence and opium dealing. Zhang Zuolin was still receiving assistance from the Japanese, despite not exactly aligning with their wishes. For Zhang Zuolin, tossing away some autonomy was merely a tactical move for his drive to conquer China. Thus it was a means to an end. For the Japanese, they sought an absolute hegemony over Manchuria. In August of 1923, Zhang Zuolin turned to Major General Honjo Shigeru, his Japanese advisor for Japanese arms in anticipation of another war against the Zhili clique. Honjo responded by denying him the request and criticized the Fengtian army's level of training and readiness. Then he basically went on to say that Japan would continue to support, as long as he did not invade China proper, “the Empire always demands that you exercise circumspection so that order may be maintained in the Eastern Provinces”. Regardless of the Japanese position on the issue, Zhang Zuolin had taken enormous lengths to reorganize and retrain his army. Simply put, he had grown too strong for the Zhili clique to leave him alone.  Yet the tiger of Manchuria was not the only problem facing the Zhili clique, there was also Dr Sun Yat-Sen's coalition in the south. Then a minor incident, a train robbery in Shandong occurred in april of 1923. Several foreigners were kidnapped and ransomed. Alongside this the feeling in the air was that a war was about to break out at any moment. The foreigners wanted a stable China, the people of China wanted an end to the wars. Thus the foreign diplomats and Chinese officials began demanding the Zhili and Fengtian cliques sign a peace treaty before another war broke out. A peace agreement was reached in June of 1923, what that piece of paper actually meant, who knows.  In the meantime, the Zhili clique began focusing on the remnants of the Anhui clique over in Fujian and Zhejiang province. In march of 1923, Zhili clique member Sun Chuanfang was appointed military governor of Fujian. Sun Chuanfang was the former protege of the previous military governor of Hubei, Wang Chanyuan and he much like Feng Yuxiang was becoming a rising stay. Sun Chuanfang was being bolstered heavily by Cao Kun. Sun Chuanfang drove the Anhui clique's military governor Wang Yungchuan out of Fuzhou and by early 1924, Fujian province was more or less firmly Zhili dominated. Wu Peifu intended to use Fujian as a springboard to conquer Guangdong. Meanwhile the remaining Anhui warlord, Lu Yungxiang of Zhejiang was obviously panicking. Lu Yungxiang held control over Zhejiang and thus also Shanghai, including her arsenal and extensive revenues from foreign trade, the opium trade and had access to foreign markets. Fearing the Zhili would crush him at any moment, he jumped into bed with Zhang Zuolin and Dr Sun Yat-Sen directly after the Anhui cliques defeat back in 1920. Basically to garner their support and that of foreigners, Lu Yungxiang publicly opposed Cao Kun when he bribed his way into the presidency.  On November 10th of 1923, the police chief of Shanghai, Zhili clique member Xu Guoliang was assassinated. It has been alleged Xu Guoliang was killed by henchmen of Lu Yungxiang. A battle emerged between Lu Yungxiang and the military governor of Jiangsu, Qi Xieyuan over appointing a new successor. You might be asking, “why would two people be fighting over this issue, isn't Shanghai under the jurisdiction of Jiangsu?” Yeah funny thing about that, the city was at the time being administered by Lu Yungxiang as part of Zhejiang. While historically Shanghai had typically been part of Jiangsu province, after the first Zhili-Fengtian War, Lu Yungxiang seized control over the city and it basically became his economic lifeline. Both men fought and nearly began a war, but to preserve the peace they began negotiating and signing minor treaties. Both men agreed not to take allies to fight another and not to allow other warlords armies to pass through each other's provinces, nor augment their current armies. Despite everything it was clear to Lu Yungxiang that Zhejiang was next on the chopping block for the Zhili clique, thus in order to protect himself he hired the Anhui clique Generals Zang Zhiping, the commander of the Fujian 2nd Division and Yang Huazhao the commander of the Fujian 3rd Division, together they were roughly 6000 men strong. Obviously their recruitment violated the peace treaty, and alongside this, Lu Yungxiang gave refuge to many Anhui troops fleeing Fujian. This handed the Zhili clique justification to provoke a war. Meanwhile Qi Xieyuan had expanded his military strength in preparation for seizing Shanghai. He began recruiting troops in Yanzhou and Jining. Initially within Jiangsu Qi Xieyuan had 5 Divisions and 6 Brigades, roughly 43,000 men. Qi Xieyuan also had the support of Naval commander Du Xigui who led 20 warships with some marines. Qi Xieyuan also had a minor airforce sporting some Vime bombers purchased from the UK.  As for Zhejiang, Lu Yungxiang reorganized the two Fujian divisions he recruited into a supplementary Brigade and the 24th Mixed Brigade. These added to his divisions and Brigades brought his manpower to nearly 70,000. Lu Yungxiang also had the support of a Shanghai based fleet led by Anhui clique commander Lin Jianzhang and a small airforce sporting French BR14 fighter bombers. Now Qi Xieyuan knew he had no chance in hell of capturing Zhejiang and Shanghai with his forces alone, so he cried to Wu Peifu. Wu Peifu was of course looking down the barrel of a much larger war with Zhang Zuolin, and he had plans to garner Anhui clique support to his side in the future war. In the meantime he asked Qi Xieyuan to lay low and not do anything rash. So Qi Xieyuan did the very opposite. Qi Xieyuan held a secret military meeting in Nanjing, announcing to other warlords from Henan, Anhui and Hubei that he was going to invade Zhejiang. They all wanted a piece of the pie so the game was on.Qi Xieyuan appointed himself commander in chief and created 3 route armies to attack Zhejiang and Shanghai. The first route army was commanded by Gong Bangduo who would mainly be attacking Shanghai, the second route army was led by Chen Tiaoyuan who would mainly defend Yixing and the third route army was led by Wang Pu who would mainly attack Guangde of Zhejiang. In addition to all of this, Sun Chuanfang with support from Cai Chengxun the governor of Jiangxi organized a Fujian-Jiangxi alliance at Jianou. He too would attack Zhejiang, but his ambitions were much larger than just helping Qi Xieyuan.  The Anhui clique warlords knew that if Zhejiang and Shanghai fell to the Zhili the Anhui clique was all but done for. Thus many of them such as Xu Shuzheng, Wu Guangxin, Ma Liang and Qu Tongfeng began recruiting to fight for Zhejiang. Lu Yungxiang welcomed their help and asked them to send word to the Fengtian clique for additional aid. Dr Sun Yat-Sen also said if war broke out between Jiangsu and Zhejiang he would try to send forces of his Northern Expedition army.   By August of 1924, Sun Chuanfang had moved his troops directly over to the Fujian-Zhejiang border. At 10am on September 3rd of 1924 the first shot of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang war rang around Yixing of Jiangsu province. The Jiangsu forces originally sought to capture Changxing in Zhejiang in one lighting attack, but they found extremely strong resistance. Zhejiang artillery in the mountains surrounded Changxing, roughly 30 miles from Yixing kept them at bay, causing an immediate stalemate. By 11am the fighting made its way along the Shanghai-Nanjing railway. By 10am the next day the Jiangsu forces at Huangdu began firing at Zhejiang fortifications, but the Zhejiang defenders did not fire back. Lured in by the idea the fortifications might be unguarded, Jiangsu forces came over only to be gunned down by machine guns and artillery, killing possibly hundreds. The Zhejiang fighters stormed out of the fortifications to pursue the enemy and by 5pm captured Anting in the process.  Now on the political side of things, because Qi Xieyuan launched the first punch, Lu Yungxiang proclaimed he was only defending his territory. Qi Xieyuan in the meantime proclaimed he was working under Cao Kun, thus Lu Yungxiang began tossing accusations at Cao Kun about his bribery scandal, calling him a treacherous dog, you know normal stuff. Now all this Cao Kun talk, prompted Cao Kun to issue officials orders on September 4th to attack Zhejiang. I wont be getting into here, but this sparked the second Zhili-Fengtian war essentially. So while we focus on this smaller war in a bigger war, don't forget about the bigger war. Now by September the 5th the Jiangsu-Zhejiang war saw battles going on in 5 directions: Yixing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Jiading, Liuhe and Qingpu. Within the Yixing battles, the Jiangsu forces were initially blocked, facing Zhejiang counterattacks, roughly 10 miles from Yixing. The Jiangsu forces were battered, 3 battalions defected on the 6th. On the 7th, the Zhejiang forces entered Shushan, prompting Qi Xieyuan to mobilize the Anhui 5th Mixed brigade to reinforce the area, finally halting the Zhejiang advance. Another stalemate emerged, now between Shushan and Yixing. Over at the Shanghai-Nanjing railway line area, after two quiet days, on the night of the 6th the two armies clashed around Anting. Both sides were evenly matched forming a quick stalemate. In the Jiading area on the night of the 3rd the Jiangsu stormed the west gate of Jiading, the defenders were barely holding on. Lu Yungxiang deployed Yang Huazhao's army who made it over on the 5th. Both sides fought fiercely for days. Over in the Liuhe direction, during the afternoon of the 4th the Jiangsu forces advanced, but the Zhejiang artillery kept them at bay. By 5pm however the Zhejiang defenders were overwhelmed allowing the Jiangsu forces to seize Liuhe as the defenders fled to Luodian. At 3am on the 5th the Jiangsu forces continued their advance, only to see the Zhejiang forces circle back and recapture Liuhe. The Jiangsu forces tossed numerous counterattacks, but were repelled and forced to pull back to their start lines. Over in the Qingpu area on the 5th the Jiangsu divided themselves in two groups departing Anting. One group attack Si Port, only 6 miles away from Anting, the other group attacked Baihe due southwest. By 3pm on the 6th both sides were fighting  around Kongzhai, just 10 miles north of Qingpu. The Zhejiang managed to halt the Jiangsu. Thus after a few days, across all the battle areas, pretty much no one was making significant progress. Just as it looked like the stalemate would not break, on the 8th the Sun Chuanfang's Jiangsu-Fujian attacked. They quickly occupied Xianxia, Jiangshan and Quzhou by the 18th. Lu Yungxiang saw the enemy closing in on Shanghai and panicked. He knew combined these forces could launch two pronged attacks and overwhelm him. Thus Lu Yungxiang sacrifice Zhejiang as a whole and withdrew to Shanghai with his most elite forces. Now leaderless the rest of the Zhejiang army was simply blown away by the Jiangsu-Fujian forces. They quickly seized Jiaxing, Changxing and other cities. The Jiangsu navy began bombarding coastal and riverside towns as the airforce bombed them as well. Facing a three dimensional war, the Zhejiang forces crumbled and by the end of September Zhejiang defense ceased. The Fujian-Jiangsu armies rushed to Shanghai, occupying Jinshanwei, Songjiang, Qingpu and Longhua by October 13th. At that point Lu Yungxiang realized they could not hope to hold Shanghai, so he alongside other warlords fled into the Shanghai international Concession. The rest of the Zhejiang forces fell to Xu Shuzheng who was placed under house arrest. Thus Qi Xieyuan and Sun Chuanfang were victorious. The war between Jiangsu and Zhejiang lasted roughly 40 days. It was a tremendous disaster for the common people who resided in both provinces who were displaced. The Jiangsu provincial peasants association relayed a message after the war to the state council stating "In the war between Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the army passed by, the villages and towns were ruins, the people were migrating, and they were unemployed. The rich were poor, and the poor were dead. No one knows how many people died in the war zones around Jiangnan and Yixing, This is especially true in Kunshan, Jiading, Taicang, Songjiang, Qingpu and other counties.” The Jiading, Qingpu, Songjiang and Taicang associations added this to the state council "The war broke out in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the two provinces were severely affected. In Jiangsu, the four counties of Jiading, Qingpu, Songjiang, and Taicang were the most severely affected, entire towns were destroyed, robbed, or displaced, and the situation was inexplicable... In short, the businesses stopped and the farmers fled. In the past sixty years, their vitality has been exhausted." The Liuhe War Disaster Relief association wrote this report to the Ministry of Internal affairs "The Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces used the Liuhe River as the battlefield, and the stalemate lasted for forty days and nights. People's lives and property were destroyed by artillery fire, and they were repeatedly raped and plundered. The navy also fired long-distance artillery fire from time to time. Therefore, many houses were burned and bombed, such as schools, temples, shops, churches, charity halls, hospitals, and long-distance buses, which were all destroyed by the soldiers... A total of 154 houses in the city were destroyed by artillery fire. Of the 1,529 houses, about 3,300 were damaged by shells, and the total damage was estimated to be over 770,000 yuan. The merchants and civilians in the houses were not affected by this war disaster. For this reason, the residents were exiled and their houses were no longer available, and they were unable to resume operations. The situation was so miserable that it was difficult for them to do so."  Both sides' casualty figures ranged in the thousands to tens of thousands. Official reports stated 30,000 total casualties for the war, with hundreds dying each day of it. However the greatest harm fell upon civilians. Young recruits, often having not been paid for long periods of time, resorting to looting and robbing. Civilians panicked and fled their homes. Women were pressed into service as cooks and in brothels, known sometimes as public wives. Civilians were forced to work for the soldiers, performing things like transporting ammunition, digging trenches and such. They were beaten with gun handles if they did not comply, those who ran were whipping, many were shot. Gang rape was an epidemic, there was a tragic story of an 8 year old girl and a 78 year old women were were gang raped to death by 13 soldiers near Fangtai while they were out picking cotton. Waves of refugees roamed the region, Japanese survey's indicated the Shanghai international concession ballooned with 500,000 refugees. When Lu Yungxiang fled for Shanghai, his Zhejiang army simply looted the province.  Economic losses were insanely high. These losses came from warlords extorting or expropriating to meet military demands. It was estimated that the military expenditure of both sides was 60-70 million yuan. Neither provincial taxes could support such numbers so the warlords forced banks and governments to allocate things like treasury exchange coupons. Sun Chuanfang extorted 800,000 yuan from the Huangzhou banks and would later extort another 1 million yuan from the Shanghai business community. Soldiers burned, killed and looted as was the norm of warlord China. As you can imagine the government bond price plummeted from all of this, banks foreclosed, financial ruin ensued. The entire financial industry of Jiangsu and Zhejiang went on strike because of the war and all of this of course impacted China's overall economy.  Now as I alluded to, the Jiangsu-Zhejiang war was not only a war fought over two provinces in southeast China, but rather a contest between the entire Zhili clique against an emerging anti-Zhili coalition. It was also another disastrous blow to the already dramatically weakened Anhui clique, who pretty much would never recover. From this point forward the Anhui clique would not wield much presence politically or militarily. Although the war was clearly limited in scope to the southeast corner of China, it had an enormous impact across the nation. At the time the Zhili clique was in firm control over Beijing and was vigorously trying to unify China by force, threatening all the other cliques' warlords. Lu Yungxiang desperately looked for anyone to help him out, even turning to Cao Kun and Wu Peifu, asking them to restrain Qi Xieyuang. Of course neither Zhili leader headed this as they very much wanted Zhejiang to fall into their pocket, but they had no idea what a powder keg Zhejiang would turn out to be.  I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The First Jiangsu-Zhejiang War was but a mere cog in a larger war that was unfolding across China. The Warlord Era was simply one battle to the next, as the warlords fought to unify China in their own special image. The common people are always the ones to pay the price.