On September 5th, Shaocheng Park in Chengdu was crowded with people and flags were flying. Representatives from all walks of life and ordinary people in Sichuan spontaneously came to send their sons out of Sichuan to fight the war.
Liu Xiang, Deng Xihou and others spoke successively. When it was Tang Shizun's turn to speak, he pushed away the microphone and shouted at the top of his voice: "This trip is determined to avenge the country's shame and bring glory to the nation. If it fails, it will be a benevolence and the lost land will not be regained.
I vow not to return to Sichuan! I recently wrote a poem to express my determination to fight the war: The man is determined to leave Kui Pass, and the Japanese pirates will never be exterminated, and he vows not to return. There is no need to bury the bones in a mulberry land, there are green mountains everywhere in life!"
"Pap-pap-pap-pap!"
There was thunderous applause in the park, and tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians were excited.
Zhou Hexuan seemed to be watching a tragic farce. Although many Sichuan army generals present today acted generously and heroically, they all had their own small calculations.
Take Tang Shizun, who was famous for his poetry, for example. He was nicknamed "Tang Fever Pig" and was as famous as Fan Shaozeng in Sichuan. One Tang Fever Pig (Stupid Pig) and the other Fan Ha'er (Fool), together they are "Pig with Fever is Not Fever"
, Haer no Ha”.
Tang Shizun had been friends with Liu Xiang for nearly twenty years and was regarded as Liu Xiang's absolute supporter. But when Liu Xiang became seriously ill on the front line, he immediately colluded with Chiang Kai-shek to squeeze out Liu Xiang's confidant Pan Wenhua.
Seeking to seize the military command power of the Sichuan Army.
Tang style follows this, but what about Liu Xiang?
Often when we talk about the Sichuan Army, we can't help but describe Liu Xiang's image as majestic and upright. In fact, Liu Xiang also made many small moves during the Anti-Japanese War. For example, in order to continue to control the Sichuan Army, he secretly joined forces with Song Zheyuan and Han Fuju to
Check and balance Chiang Kai-shek.
One of the important reasons why Han Fuju was targeted and killed by Chiang Kai-shek was that he had colluded with Liu Xiang.
At that time, because Chiang Kai-shek's methods were too cruel and the Sichuan troops fell apart, Liu Xiang was forced to resist. Liu Xiang's plan was: the Sichuan army closed the main entrance to Sichuan and prevented Chiang Kai-shek from leading his troops into Sichuan. Han Fuju
He led his troops to retreat to Nanyang, Xiangfan and Hanzhong, while Song Zheyuan retreated to the west of Tongguan. The three parties jointly sent a telegram to overthrow Chiang.
All this was seen by Chiang Kai-shek, so Liu Xiang was placed under house arrest, Han Fuju was shot, and Song Zheyuan was dismissed.
Fortunately, Liu Xiang died of illness at the critical moment, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable, and the situation of the Anti-Japanese War would inevitably fall into a more unfavorable situation. So after Liu Xiang died of illness, the top brass of the Central Army mourned deeply while rejoicing. They believed that once Liu Xiang died, the Anti-Japanese War would end
However, Liu Xiang's survival is the biggest trouble in the war of resistance against Japan.
In the original words of Xu Yongchang, Minister of Military Command: "Liu Xiang passed away recently. It is God's will that has left vitality to the people of the country."
At the beginning of the Sichuan Army's Anti-Japanese War, Liu Xiang did not personally go out to command Sichuan. He had to stabilize the rear area first. In order to force Liu Xiang to leave his home base, Chiang Kai-shek transferred two Sichuan Army groups out of their formation. Liu Xiang was so frightened that he flew to Nanjing and demanded
Serves as the Commander-in-Chief of the Seventh Station District.
Liu Xiang was already terminally ill at that time, and Secretary-General Deng Hanxiang advised him to rest in peace and recuperate and not to go to the front line in person.
Liu Xiang answered this way: "In the past, we fought a civil war for many years, and our face was not very honorable. Today, with the opportunity of the war of resistance, we have to do our best to serve the country and strive for my own space in history. Moreover, the troops I transferred this time accounted for about
More than half of them. If I don't personally take command, they will be divided and eliminated by Chiang Kai-shek in less than half a year."
In historical materials about the Sichuan Army, only the first half of the sentence is often mentioned, while the second half is omitted.
Liu Xiang's difficult situation was doomed a few years ago. Because he, the "King of Sichuan", did not become the "King of Sichuan" by his own strength, but was deliberately arranged and supported by Chiang Kai-shek. Without the support of Chiang Kai-shek, he would have been in trouble.
There is no "King of Sichuan" Liu Xiang.
After the January 28th Incident, Chang Kaishen realized that China and Japan were bound to have a war, so he planned to create the "Sichuan, Guizhou, and Shaanxi Anti-Japanese War Rear Area."
Although Liu Xiang defeated Liu Wenhui at that time, he was unable to destroy other small warlords. He was unable to ascend the throne of "King of Sichuan" and could only reluctantly become the "Leader of the Sichuan Army". Deng Xihou, Pan Wenhua, Wang Zanxu and others, although nominally belonging to Liu
Under Xiang's command, he has his own independent defense area and is in charge of military and political affairs in the defense area.
Sichuan warlords, big and small, distributed banknotes indiscriminately in their respective defense areas. In the words of the time, this behavior had "an impact ten times as great as banditry."
Sichuan's finances collapsed as early as 1934, and Liu Xiang could only ask Chiang Kai-shek for help.
Chiang Kai-shek took the opportunity to intervene in Sichuan's military and political affairs, backed by the central government's righteousness and powerful force, broke the Sichuan warlords' defense zone system, and promoted Liu Xiang to the throne of "King of Sichuan". He also used central administrative orders to rectify Sichuan's finance, unify Sichuan's currency system and
Taxation This is why part of Sichuan’s industrial and commercial taxes need to be turned over to the central government.
The Sichuan Army is inherently deficient. It can be said in one word: poor!
Being poor means being weak, meaning that you have no supplies or weapons, and you can only be bullied by others.
If it were the wealthy Cantonese and Guangxi cliques, Chiang Kai-shek would never dare to break up their organization easily, because the Guangdong and Guangxi armies were strong with guns and artillery.
There are many factions in the Sichuan Army. If Chiang Kai-shek can help up one Sichuan king, he can certainly help up the second. So when the news came out that Liu Xiang was seriously ill, there were rebels in the Sichuan Army's front and rear at the same time. Tang Shizun made trouble in the front and Wang Zanxu made trouble in the rear
, all thinking that they would be able to ascend to power after Liu Xiang's death.
This is warlords, this is politics, there is always a shadow behind the light.
What deserves our admiration for the Sichuan warlords is that although they fought openly and covertly, they were unequivocal in their fight against the Japanese. Most of the Sichuan army generals, including people like Fan Haer, tried their best to resist the Japanese and did not know what it meant to preserve their strength.
There are very few people who escape from battle or surrender to the enemy and become traitors.
Even though Liu Xiang was tricked to death by Chiang Kai-shek, his last words were: "We will fight to the end and remain unswerving. That is, if the enemy troops do not withdraw from the country for a day, the Sichuan army will never return home!"
Only then did Liu Xiang truly become a veritable leader of the Sichuan Army and the spiritual leader collectively recognized by hundreds of thousands of Sichuan troops. Even Yang Sen, who had always been close to Chiang Kai-shek and hostile to Liu Xiang, strongly demanded a state funeral for Liu Xiang.
These Sichuan troops were bullied miserably. Now that the commander-in-chief is dead, they have all become motherless children and mourning soldiers. They must use the blood of the Japanese invaders to wash away their shame. For a long time after Liu Xiang's death,
, the Sichuan troops on the front line had to recite Liu Xiang's last words in unison every day to show their determination to fight to the end. The only way left for them was to fight to the death to serve the country.
There were too many twists and turns between the Central Government and Sichuan, and Zhou Hexuan did not want to get involved, nor was he able to get involved. After the Sichuan Army on the East and North Roads swore an oath and set off, he quietly returned to Chongqing, and finally waited for the first meeting after the July 7th Incident.
good news.
The machinery and equipment needed to open a sulfonamide pharmaceutical factory, as well as the sixteen British people accompanying them, have arrived at Chaotianmen Pier in Chongqing. These people landed in Guangzhou, took the Guangdong-Hankou Line to Hankou, and then transferred to a river ship to travel upstream.