Comrade Chang Kaishen's bizarre encounter and death immediately caused an uproar at home and abroad, and all kinds of conspiracy theories were in the air for a while. Of course, the most important thing is the huge power vacuum left by Chang Kaishen's death - who will fill it?

There was no problem with the head of state, because the chairman of the National Government at that time was Lin Sen. However, the system of the Nationalist Government at that time was somewhat similar to that of India today, and the chairman of the government was only the nominal leader of the country, and was not responsible for actual political responsibility.

At that time, President Chang concurrently held the three most important positions of Chairman of the Military Commission, President of the Executive Yuan, and President of the Kuomintang, and held actual and absolute power. As a result, the three important posts of party, government, and military soon sparked fierce competition within the Kuomintang.

In troubled times, the most important thing is, of course, military power. At that time, in addition to President Chang, the Military Commission also included He Yingqin, chief of staff and minister of military affairs, Bai Chongxi, deputy chief of staff and director of military training, Xu Yongchang, director of the Military Command Department, Chen Cheng, minister of politics, Chen Tiaoyuan, president of the Military Senate, and Feng Yizhong, chief of staff of the Operations Department of the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government.

In addition, there are also Hu Zongnan in Shaanxi, Jiang Dingwen and Tang Enbo in Henan, Zhang Fakui in Guangdong, Gu Zhutong in Jiangxi, Li Zongren in Hubei, Xue Yue in Hunan, and Long Yun in Yunnan. Of course, the strongest local strength is Zheng Huzi, who has recovered Northern China and has nearly one million troops.

Because of each other's containment, no one can have an absolute advantage. After several days of open and covert fighting, He Yingqin and others finally reached a compromise under the mediation of the US ambassador. It was decided that He Yingqin, who had the highest position and the most extensive connections, would take over as chairman of the Military Commission, and gave Zheng Huzi, who was the strongest, a consolation prize for the vice chairman. The chief of the General Staff left by He Yingqin was replaced by Bai Chongxi, deputy chief of the General Staff. The Minister of Military Affairs was succeeded by Political Minister Chen Cheng, and Xu Yongchang remained his Minister of Military Orders.

Other positions are like cabbage, one by you and one by me, and they will soon be divided up. Because Zheng Huzi's power in the Military Commission was too weak, he didn't get any benefits, and only pushed Zhang Wenbai to the position of Minister of Military Training.

The post of Executive Yuan was supposed to be taken over by Vice President Kong Xiangxi, but Kong Fatzi's use of power to speculate and develop private capital during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression angered the Chinese people. At the political participation meeting, Fu Sinian and others suddenly made a difficulty, which made Kong Fatzi embarrassed, and had to resign from the posts of vice president of the Executive Yuan and minister of finance.

However, Chang Kaishen's bones are not cold. The four major families are still quite energetic. In the end, Song Ziwen took over as the premier, Weng Wenhao as vice president, and Wang Yunwu as finance minister.

The post of president of the Kuomintang fell to Zhang Qun, a veteran of the Kuomintang and then chairman of the Sichuan provincial government. However, the Department of Political Science had declined at this time, and the power of party organization and personnel was still in the hands of the CC Department of the Erchen brothers.

At first glance, this power structure is temporary and unstable. So the U.S. government came up with a "three-step" roadmap plan.

In the first step, the new members of the Senate and the national representatives will be elected by the parties and provinces.

Step 2. Convening of the National Council for Political Participation and the Constitutional National Convention. A new constitution is drawn up by the Participation Council. It will be submitted to the National Assembly for deliberation and formal promulgation after adoption.

The third step is to enact an electoral law in accordance with the Constitution. and form a new government in accordance with the law.

This proposal was basically approved by all parties, but in view of the imminent war of war, it was decided to implement it after the complete victory of the War of Resistance against Japan.

Shenyang, Liaoning.

Zheng Weiguo is discussing the current situation with his senior members. However, they have limited information, and they are too far away from Chongqing to reach the whip, so they can only wait and see what happens for the time being.

Chief of Staff Zhou said with some joy: "No matter how the chairman died, the crisis in North China has finally been resolved." Moreover, this plan of the Americans is not bad, and I think there is great hope for the country. ”

Zheng Weiguo was a little disapproving, there has never been a savior in this world, and the hope of the country still depends on the people themselves in the final analysis. Whether it is equality or freedom, it requires the self-awakening of the people, to work hard, to fight, to struggle, not the gift of a certain country or a certain force.

And he is also deeply suspicious of the cause of Chang Kaishen's death, who revealed his whereabouts to the Japanese? Although most of the outside world believes that he is a Japanese spy or a political enemy of President Chang. But with the principal's caution and Boss Dai's caution, how could he be easily calculated?

In Zheng Huzi's view, the only one who has the motive and ability to do this is Uncle Sam, who claims to be righteous. This made Zheng Huzi feel very annoyed, no matter how bad Principal Chang was, he was always the head of the Chinese government, when was it the turn of the Yankees to intervene?

But he has no evidence for this, and even if he does, what can he do? You can't turn your face with the Americans because of Principal Chang! Zheng Huzi could only secretly swear in his heart that he must make the country strong as soon as possible and get rid of this state of being ravaged by others.

For this reason, he specially applied to the Central Military Commission and asked the Ministry of Military Affairs to transfer a large number of navy, air force, armored corps, artillery units, and cadets to the Second Theater to obey orders. The national government has actually done a good job in talent reserves, but institutional problems have led to the fact that most talented people have no room for growth.

He Yingqin was worried about the instability of the throne at this time and urgently needed support, so he also tried his best to win over Zheng Weiguo.

After the First Battle of Jiangyin, the Chinese Navy had no ships to fight for, and could only rely on mines to stop the Japanese army from advancing west along the Yangtze River. Chairman He thought that it was all a burden anyway, so it was better to give favors. So he packed all the following under the Minister of the Navy Chen Shaokuan and threw them to Zheng Huzi.

As for the Air Force, China did not have an Air Force at that time, only the "Aviation Committee" led by Song Xiaomei. After the death of Principal Chang, Song Xiaomei was extremely hostile to the Japanese troops in Anhui and Jiangsu, and decided to go to retaliate in person. Therefore, the Air Force only sent some cadets.

There were quite a few people in the armored and artillery who were idle, and it was a pity to change to infantry, so many people were sent.

After the arrival of these personnel, they were quickly entrusted with important tasks, and together with the thousands of drivers sent by Boss Dai during his lifetime, the "talent shortage" in the second war zone was greatly alleviated.

Two weeks later, Chinese and American forces launched amphibious landing operations on Ulsan and Pusan, at the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula. Although the Japanese army resisted desperately and sent air reinforcements from the mainland, they were defeated by the Sino-American coalition forces, which had an absolute advantage.

By the end of May 1943, the Korean Peninsula had been largely liberated, and great progress had been made in land transportation (roads, railways) and airports......

The victory in the Korean Campaign greatly encouraged the Sino-American coalition forces, and they took advantage of the high fighting spirit to capture Jeju Island, Tsushima Island, and Iki Island in succession, leading the war to the Japanese mainland step by step.

On June 7, 1943, the "East-West Parallel Plan" was officially launched, and Zheng Weiguo, commander of the Second Theater of Operations, and Admiral Arnold of the North Pacific Theater of the United States jointly issued an operational order - to launch an all-out attack on the Japanese mainland!

At 10 o'clock in the morning, more than 1,500 B24 bombers and 2,000 B17 bombers of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Air Groups of the US Army simultaneously carried out an unprecedented heavy bombing of Karatsu on Japan's Kyushu Island and the Shimokita Peninsula on Honshu Island.

Two hours later, the landing force began to rush to the beach. Since the defenders had long been lost in the bombardment, the Chinese and American forces encountered almost no resistance during the landing.

However, Zheng Weiguo and Arnold did not underestimate the determination of the Japanese to defend desperately, and the eastern and western armies did not rush to advance in depth, but quickly seized advantageous terrain and built fortifications with the help of engineering troops.

That night, the Japanese army launched a frantic counterattack on both places. They dispatched at least 20,000 regular troops and 10 times as many "national volunteers" as they were, and charged to the death under the cover of artillery fire. Moreover, for the first time, the Japanese army also used new weapons such as "jet guns" in an attempt to drive all the Sino-American forces into the sea in the same way as the battle on the Chitoko Peninsula.

However, the Japanese army was destined to be disappointed this time.

Sudden ...... The firepower of the Chinese and American forces is unprecedentedly strong, with an average of 18 machine guns of various types every 50 meters of defensive frontage. The Japanese have never even heard of it, let alone knowledge. Moreover, under the interception of artillery fire, it is not easy to rush within the range of machine guns.

"Yes, the Japanese were crazy at the time!" An American veteran after the war recalled: "They rushed at us without any defense, machine guns were firing desperately, and the front of the position was quickly piled up with enemy corpses so much that it blocked our view." ”

"The shooting lasted all night, and hundreds of machine guns were destroyed, but the logistics command quickly brought in new guys for us!"

"The spirit of the Japanese? Yes, they were brave, but they were also stupid, knowing that this attack would be futile, but they still charged at us along the old path. ”

After a night of bloody fighting, the Sino-US coalition forces finally gained a firm foothold and quickly advanced towards the Japanese mainland under the cover of the air force!

The 1st Marine Division, the Far Eastern Front, the New Fifth Army, the Second Army, the Third Army, and the Seventh Army have landed on the east and west sides of Japan, and the rolling torrent of hundreds of thousands of troops is unstoppable!

……

At the same time, President Roosevelt, Secretary of State Cordell. Hull, Chairman Lin Sen, and President Song Ziwen also rushed to Shenyang to hold the first ever meeting between Chinese and American leaders. Vice Chairman Zhou Elai and Zheng Huzi also attended the meeting as representatives of Yan'an and the military, respectively.

The meeting identified three main things:

First, Japan was urged to surrender unconditionally at an early date;

Second, determine current and future cooperation between China and the United States, including the abrogation of unequal treaties, assistance to China, mutual most-favored-nation status, and joint efforts to maintain the new post-war order.

Third, it is necessary to redraw spheres of influence in Asia and the Pacific Rim.

After the meeting, China and the United States jointly held a press conference and issued the "Sino-US Joint Declaration" and the "Shenyang Proclamation" urging Japan to surrender, ordering Japan to make a decision within a week, otherwise it will be punished with the most severe punishment! (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you very much for being the first helmsman of this book 140321154204833!