The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

After the defeat of Henan, Hunan and Guangxi, Stilwell threw all the blame on Chiang Kai-shek, and took all the achievements of the expeditionary force in Burma on himself. In fact, his strategic and tactical thinking was still stuck in the First World War, and he did not know enough about tanks and air force. He thought about the advancement of infantry groups all day long, and he also wrongly chose the offensive route, resulting in heavy losses to the soldiers of the expeditionary force.

In comparison, Stilwell's successor, General Wedemeyer, was a true good friend of the Chinese people.

Half a year later, Stilwell used the defeat of Henan, Hunan and Guangxi as an excuse to ask Chiang Kai-shek to hand over the entire military command of China to him. This extremely rude request was actually approved by Marshall and eventually supported by Roosevelt.

Let alone Chiang Kai-shek, it is impossible for the leader of any country to hand over all the troops of his country to a foreigner. After receiving Roosevelt's telegram, Chiang Kai-shek was furious and directly threatened that if Stilwell was not removed from his post, China would break away from the Allies and fight alone.

Roosevelt had no choice but to transfer Stilwell out of the China theater and let General Wedemeyer take over.

As soon as Wedemeyer arrived in the Chinese war zone, reality poured cold water on him. He found that what he inherited was a mess. The China Theater Staff Headquarters controlled by Stilwell is just an empty frame. There is no organization and operation of the staff department, and there is no combat plan and logistics operation system for the China Theater Department. This is equivalent to Stilwell not even doing basic work well in the four years since he took office. .

Wedemeyer was appointed at the critical moment and formed a Sino-US Joint Staff within a month, allowing the military chiefs of both sides to hold regular weekly meetings to discuss military combat plans. At the same time, he also canceled the plan to continue to mobilize troops to Myanmar to stabilize China's domestic battlefield and make up for the negative impact of the defeat of Henan, Hunan and Guangxi to a certain extent.

Next, Wedemeyer tried to establish a reasonable system for the Chinese theater from the institutional aspects such as salary and supply. This is what a high-level commander should do, instead of focusing on the specific training of soldiers like Stilwell, and then allocating all supplies and taking these trained troops to fight.

Stilwell could not even solve the problem of the U.S. Army and Air Force competing for Hump supplies. Wedemeyer solved it as soon as he took office and repaired the relationship between the U.S. Army Headquarters assisting China and the Flying Tigers. At the same time, he also cooperated with Chinese officials tacitly. As long as Wedemeyer was in Chongqing, he would meet and discuss with Chiang Kai-shek almost every day. The conversations included command system, organization, operations, training, transportation, defense, division of theaters, establishment of new armies, etc. . Stilwell should have solved these problems, but he only knew how to be angry with Chiang Kai-shek, and later it all fell on Wedemeyer's shoulders.

Stilwell called Chiang Kai-shek a big jackass and a dictator, while Wedemeyer's evaluation of Chiang Kai-shek was: "He was just the leader of a loose association, and he had to go through huge difficulties from time to time to gain the power of others to command him. obey."

Chiang Kai-shek also had great trust and admiration for Wedemeyer, calling him a role model for soldiers and believing that "our soldiers should follow our example."

Comparing the two, whether it is at the military or diplomatic level, Wedemeyer and Stilwell's abilities are very different, and they are not even in the same realm.

However, both the Chinese and American people can only remember Stilwell, but ignore the real hero Wedemeyer. Perhaps for Wedemeyer, he should be called "a man who is good at fighting has no great achievements."

These are all things for later. It will take more than half a year for Wedemeyer to arrive in China.

For Chang Kaishen, he has to face not only battlefield defeats, but also the growing calls for democracy in the country.

After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, China's democratic constitutional movement developed vigorously. As the war entered a stalemate stage, the Nationalist government gradually changed its face. Not only did it cancel the requirement to convene the National Assembly on a regular basis, it also adopted high-pressure rule over various constitutional groups, prohibiting and restricting all activities striving for constitutional government.

By 1944, all democrats believed that the democratic constitutional movement had completely failed.

At this time, the Communist Party put forward the slogan of "forming a coalition government", and the democrats responded one after another as if they had found a treasure. Because the UK now has a multi-party coalition government, the Conservative Party is responsible for military and foreign affairs, the Labor Party is responsible for domestic affairs and the economy, and the Liberal Party is responsible for assisting in governance.

The British coalition government has done a great job, so China can do the same!

Under the leadership of the Communist Party and with the cooperation of various democratic parties and democratic and liberal people, the call for the formation of a coalition government is getting louder and louder. Against this background, the China Democratic League was officially reorganized into the "Democratic League" and allowed to Apply to join as an individual.

Chiang Kai-shek was very worried about this. Military secret agents also intensified their surveillance of the Communist Party and democratic figures. The censorship of newspapers, magazines and books became increasingly strict.

To be honest, if Zhou Hexuan was in Lao Jiang's position, he wouldn't know what to do. If you agree to form a coalition government, you are undoubtedly digging your own grave and will attract collective opposition from the KMT's top bureaucrats; if you disagree, the conflicts with various political parties and civil society people will become deeper and deeper until they are irreversible.

Mid July.

Zhou Hexuan is playing with his son Zhou Shengguang at home. The little boy was born to Zhang Leyi in March last year and was named "Dawn of Victory".

Suddenly Liang Suming came to visit, and after reminiscing about the past, he said: "Mingcheng, the Democratic Political Alliance is about to be reorganized into the Democratic Alliance, and individuals are allowed to participate. Our purpose is to discuss building a country after the war, avoid civil war, and strive for a coalition government. You Any thoughts on this?”

"The coalition government is like a mirror, it looks good, but it is actually out of reach." Zhou Hexuan shook his head with a wry smile.

"Are you that pessimistic?" Liang Suming was a little unhappy.

Zhou Hexuan explained: "It's not that I am pessimistic, but I have long seen through the nature of the Kuomintang. Even if Chang Kaishen is willing to form a coalition government, will his bureaucrats hand over power? Even if the coalition government can be realized, how will the military handle it? Chiang Kai-shek must have asked the Communist Party to hand over its troops first, and he made this request out of national justice. After all, the military power of a country should belong to the central government. Will the Communist Party hand over its troops or not? Once the Communist Party handed over its troops, Chiang Kai-shek suddenly regretted it. What should we do if we become a dictatorship?”

Liang Suming was silent for a long time, and suddenly sighed: "That's true. It seems that the coalition government has little hope."

Zhou Hexuan said: "China's political situation has developed to the current point and can only be solved with the barrel of a gun. Civil war is inevitable."

Liang Xuming said dejectedly: "China has experienced 30 years of civil war. Will the civil war continue after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War? When will this end!"

Zhou Hexuan didn't answer because no one would believe him. Now that the Nationalist government has millions of troops and support from the United States, who could have expected that the Communist Party would drive them to Taiwan within three years?

It is precisely because they cannot see the future that countless democrats, including Liang Suming, are worried. In their opinion, China's civil war may continue for another ten to twenty years, or even three to fifty years, endless and never peaceful, and China can only exhaust its last vestige of strength in the war.

"Regardless of whether we can succeed or not, we must try our best to fight for it. We cannot watch the country continue to deteriorate." Liang Xuming suddenly stood up and said, "Mingcheng, are you willing to join the Democratic League that will be formed? I will nominate you to serve as the leader. Member of the Central Committee, with your international political vision and connections, you will definitely be able to play a huge role in striving for a coalition government!"

"There is no need to be a member of the Central Committee," Zhou Hexuan waved his hand and said, "I can join, but only as an ordinary member to express my support for democratic constitutionalism, but I am not optimistic about your ideas."

Liang Suming was greatly disappointed. He even felt that Zhou Hexuan was too cowardly and pessimistic. He clearly had the ability to contribute to democracy but chose to sit back and watch. He sighed and said: "Well, everyone has their own ambitions, and I won't force it. I will come again to send you an invitation letter before the founding conference of the Democratic League is held. Farewell!"