1932: Playing with the Japanese Communist Party with a doll

The audience suddenly became buzzing, and countless people looked at Zhang Xueliang on the stage in astonishment.

Most of them were not aware of so many political considerations. They just thought that Zhang Xueliang's attitude of taking all the responsibility on himself, advocating democratic decision-making, and intending to die on the battlefield was quite responsible.

Or, give the Northeast Army another chance?

It seems there is no other choice anyway!

The public trial is over, but the waves it caused are far from over.

At this time, Chiang Kai-shek in the south was in a stalemate with Soong Ching Ling in Shanghai, and the 100,000-strong army had not yet officially entered Fujian to suppress the rebellion, so what happened in Peiping instantly became the top news in the country.

Compared with the popularity of "publicly executing Chiang Kai-shek's nephew", "killing thousands of people in one breath", "Zhang Xueliang's resignation" and "holding a referendum in Peking", "bloody incident", "riot" and "Fujian-Shanghai Incident" have to be put aside.

Especially the "referendum".

Whether in the East or the West, this kind of thing that embodies the idea of ​​"sovereignty lies with the people" naturally carries a flavor of absolute political correctness, and no one dares to say it is wrong.

Compared with the "Chinese People's Revolutionary Government" and "Fujian People's Revolutionary Government" in Shanghai and Fujian, this is the real "people's government"!

If the Northeast Army could really do it, no matter what their future fate would be, they would leave a significant mark in Chinese history.

The question is, can they do it?

"...Whoever can represent the fundamental interests of the people of Peking and the direction of Peking's future development is qualified to rule Peking. Let's hold a referendum based on this theory..."

After receiving the intelligence from Peking, someone who was floating on the sea saw through Zhang Xueliang's thoughts at a glance and said:

"Zhang Bote actually learned to use my magic against me. He definitely doesn't have the ability to do that. Maybe he has been infiltrated by the Communist Party, right?

"Yan Baohang, Li Bohai, Wu Chengfang...there are quite a few Communists and potential Communists around him. Have you forgotten?"

"Oh...and that Pan Wenyu, right?"

Fujiwara Kanezane curled his lips and said disdainfully:

"A bunch of idiots seeking death..."

Referendum?

Is a referendum such an easy thing to do?

In the information age decades later, holding a referendum would basically be a joke, let alone now?

If the referendum premise of "assuming that all voters are rational people with a deep understanding of the nature of politics and economics" were so easy to achieve, why was it still not achieved in 2082?

Everyone is responsible, but in reality, no one is responsible.

I only need to do a little manipulation to make you destroy your own place.

"Commander, should we do something?"

"Well... let's send a letter to Doihara and Chen Geng and ask them to..."

Chun

Wu Hao, who was far away in Nanchang, received the news and ordered the Peking Special Branch to pay close attention to the referendum, hoping to see how this rare "democratic model" would turn out.

Li Desheng, who had just returned to Yulin, and Jiang Jieshi, who was planning how to clean up Fujian, also received intelligence from Peking. However, these two people, with completely different values, sneered and reacted in the same way:

“You will not live if you do your own evil.

On April 24, 1933, the day before Chiang Kai-shek's army officially entered Fujian, the Peking referendum officially began.

481 Champagne at Halftime

April 24, 1933, the 4th day of the third lunar month;

It is advisable to clean, bathe, bury, offer sacrifices, move the coffin, and do not do anything else except breaking the ground and thanking the earth.

Taboo: getting married, moving into a new house, consecrating and offering sacrifices.

After this day, the Nanjing regime's central army officially entered Fujian. The Yanping garrison commander surrendered directly to the enemy. The General Tax Police Corps, together with the main force of Chiang Kai-shek's army, crushed the insignificant resistance of Fujian with overwhelming force, shocking the whole country.

However, people in Peking and even in North China have no time to pay attention to these things.

There have been so many big things going on in Beiping recently that they can't even pay attention to what's happening around them, so how can they care about others?

It was not known whether this was done to deliberately cause trouble for Zhang Xueliang, or if they had really set their sights on the date, but on April 25th, the Peking education community collectively organized a major event early in the morning:

Li Dazhao was buried publicly.

That's right, the body of the communist fighter who was hanged in 1927 is still kept in the Miaoguang Pavilion Zhe Temple outside Xuanwumen. A lot of rent has to be paid every month to ensure that it is not thrown away.

The reason, of course, is nothing more than the successive obstructions by Zhang Zuolin and his son.

Both father and son hated this CCP leader to the extreme because he actively participated in the alliance between Zhili and Feng to oppose Fengtian, had close relations with the Soviet Union, and posed a serious threat to the interests of the Fengtian clique. When they wanted to kill him, Zhang Xueliang also rarely expressed his support.

Therefore, the most vicious "curse" for traditional Chinese people, "no place to be buried after death", was the "gift" given to Li Dazhao by the Fengtian clique.

Of course, the reason why Li Dazhao's body could not be buried was not only due to the disruption caused by the Fengtian warlords, but also because the people of Peiping supported the Fengtian warlords.

Difficult and incredible, right?

But this is also true.

The reason still lies in that fatal "armed defense of the Soviet Union."

In 1924, during the negotiations between the Soviet and Beijing governments on the "Outline for the Settlement of Outstanding Issues between China and Russia," the Chinese Communist Party not only publicly advocated mutual recognition between the Beijing and Soviet governments, but also published articles advocating for the right of self-determination for Outer Mongolia and supporting the stationing of Soviet troops in Outer Mongolia.

Similar incidents occurred too many times, which not only greatly stimulated a large number of Kuomintang members who had always denied the legitimacy of the Beijing government and insisted on recovering Outer Mongolia, but also greatly angered many patriotic people;

Outer Mongolia originally belonged to China. You, the CCP, actually support foreign troops to occupy it. What do you want to do?

Selling out the country?

Therefore, when Zhang Zuolin sent troops to break into the Soviet Embassy in Dongjiao Minxiang and arrest Li Dazhao and others, not only did the ministers of various countries support him, but even the ordinary people of Peiping did not react much, and even regarded the arrested people as "Soviet spies" and celebrated.

On April 4, 1927, the envoys of various countries held a meeting and agreed that since the Soviet Union had announced the abolition of the unequal treaties, its embassy would not enjoy the privileges of the Boxer Protocol and would not be protected by the treaty.

(Immediately, everyone collectively agreed that Chinese military and police would enter the Soviet Embassy in Dongjiaomin Lane to arrest Soviet spies and inform the Beijing government. No one who knew about this would stop them, and no one who knew about this would tip them off in advance.)

Then came the "Chinese Eastern Railway Incident," where the CCP's statements and actions further disappointed the people, causing the "Li Dazhao Incident," which had been gradually forgotten, to be brought up again.

It dragged on and on until the CCP finally realized that the Chinese people were their real foundation, not the Soviet Union thousands of miles away, and made a series of major changes. Things finally took a turn for the better.

After much effort from all sides, Zhang Xueliang reluctantly agreed to let Li Dazhao be buried, but this group of people deliberately changed the original date of April 23rd to 24th under the pretext of "bad weather"...

It's obvious that they are just expressing dissatisfaction and looking for trouble.

Zhang Xueliang looked out the window at the huge crowd and Li Dazhao's family walking in the front with a grim face, listening to the shrill "Internationale", and wished he could send out the military and police to disperse this group of people.

(In history, he really did this, killing and injuring many students and spirit guardians.

But now that the referendum is imminent, Zhang Xueliang would never dare to do anything that would damage his own image. He could only pull the curtains angrily and look again at the primary election results that gave him a headache.

Although it is a "national referendum", it is of course impossible to call everyone to vote on the 24th. There is still a lot of work to be done in the early stages.

At the suggestion of Pan Wenyu and others, an organization called the "Peking Referendum Management Committee" was quickly established to be responsible for a series of matters before and after the referendum.

In order to be fair, Zhang Xueliang refused to serve as the chairman of the committee, and even refused to be a member. Instead, he pushed Wu Peifu to the forefront.

This move made it impossible for Marshal Wu, who had always been obsessed with restoring his past glory, to do so. He was in a dilemma whether to accept it or refuse it.

Accept it. I always feel like I'm being used as a pawn by Zhang Xueliang. This referendum thing is the first of its kind in China. Who knows how it works?

Refuse it, just in case... just in case I get selected after a little manipulation.

Woolen cloth?

For some unknown reason, Wu Peifu accepted Zhang Xueliang's proposal, and then found out that he had been deceived.

It’s true that many members of this committee were not from the Northeast Army, but the vice-chairmen whose words really counted were basically all Zhang Xueliang’s people!

As for how the referendum would be conducted, Wu Peifu, an old-fashioned warlord who had been out of politics for too long, couldn't explain it at all, so naturally no one listened to him.

As a result, Wu Peifu was pushed to the front as a vase and the biggest possible scapegoat. He was completely sidelined, and the actual management was basically handled by people sent by Zhang Xueliang.

That being said, the entire referendum process is actually not complicated:

1. Beiping will be divided into 19 voting districts based on its previous administrative divisions. The urban area will be divided into 11 districts, including six inner districts and five outer districts. The suburban area will be divided into 8 districts, from suburban one to suburban eight.

2. Each district will appoint a certain number of "referendum staff" to publicize the referendum to the public, collect the list of "candidates" and report it to the referendum committee, and organize referendum drills in each district;

3. On the day of the official referendum, these staff members, as representatives of the entire city of Beiping, will first organize referendums in each constituency, and finally count the votes and calculate the final results under the watchful eyes of a group of Beiping celebrities.

So far, based on the "public opinions" collected in the newspapers, the following "candidates" have been successfully selected:

The Northeast Army represented by Zhang Xueliang;

The northeastern forces represented by Fujiwara no Kanezane;

The central power of the Chinese Kuomintang represented by Chiang Kai-shek;

The Shandong forces represented by Han Fuqu;

The Chahar forces represented by Song Zheyuan;

The Shanxi forces represented by Yan Xishan;

The Hebei forces represented by Wang Shuchang;

The Jiangxi forces represented by the CCP...

Even Yu Xuezhong, Wu Peifu, and Shang Zhen have it!

To be honest, even Zhang Xueliang was at a loss when he saw this list.

Originally, when we first started to gather the "candidate list" in a pretentious manner, there were actually only three people:

He, Chiang Kai-shek, and Fujiwara no Kanezane.

He was definitely selected. After all, Chiang Kai-shek represented the KMT Central Committee. Before he officially rebelled, he must have been selected. Fujiwara no Kanezane was "unable to convince the public if he was not selected";

Who let that idiot Jiang Xiaoxian, who was being well-served by some old craftsmen in Peking who hadn't gotten what they wanted in the Northeast and Nanchang, reveal what happened that night?

Oh, so many people in your Northeast Army are leaning towards the North, yet the Northerner isn't even a candidate?

In order to avoid being accused of unfairness, Fujiwara no Kanezane had no choice but to be "predetermined".

However, within two days, a large number of "letters from the public" suddenly appeared out of nowhere, quickly recommending all the famous bigwigs in China, which could be said to be "catching them all in one fell swoop"!

According to the rules set by the referendum committee, if a certain number of letters are received, they must be made public and included in the voting list. That is why the number of "candidates" suddenly increases and the list is greatly expanded.

However, this list immediately caused huge contradictions.

the reason is simple.

No matter how powerful Zhang Xueliang was, he could only represent the local government. No matter how weak Chiang Kai-shek was, he was still the central government. Now you are putting Chiang Kai-shek and Zhang Xueliang together to "compete on the same stage." What do you mean?

Similarly, Yu Xuezhong was the governor of Hebei Province, and Shang Zhen was the acting chairman of the Peking branch of the Kuomintang Central Military Commission. But in reality, they were both Zhang Xueliang's subordinates. What sense does it make to put them in competition with Zhang Xueliang?

As for the Communist Party of China, Wu Peifu and several surrounding warlords, there is no need to say more.

Anyway, as soon as the list came out, Yu Xuezhong and others immediately realized that something was wrong and immediately ran to Zhang Xueliang to express their loyalty and swear that it was definitely not them who did it.

Although Zhang Xueliang knew that this was definitely not the problem of these people, he comforted them with gentle words and advised them not to be afraid and to run for election seriously, but he still felt a thorn in his heart.

Just in case...right?

If he won, it was a matter of course for him, Young Marshal Zhang;

But if you lose, it will be a huge disgrace to your grandma's house.

Even winning too little is a problem.

Moreover, what if these candidates, seeing that they have a lot of votes, actually start thinking about that?

It was not until this happened that Marshal Zhang realized how naive his previous thoughts were and how big a problem they had caused.

It really is like shooting oneself in the foot.

However, the referendum slogan was shouted out by himself, and Zhang Xueliang, who was very concerned about his reputation, would not go against his own face, so he had no choice but to continue pushing forward.

Given his personality, he didn't blame Pan Wenyu. After all, it was his intention to learn the electoral systems of the Soviet Union and the United States. Now it seems that he just didn't master the skills well enough.

Fortunately, apart from the problem with the list, other matters are progressing normally. The initial feedback from various constituencies is that Marshal Zhang will definitely be elected with a high vote.

I told you so!

How could the people of Peking not elect me? (Who else could they elect besides me?)

Under Zhang Xueliang's confident expectation, the elections in each constituency officially began.

"Line up one by one! Line up one by one! Vote one by one! Once you've finished voting, leave immediately! No stopping allowed!"

At the polling station in the inner district, a staff member held a loud speaker and kept repeating this sentence. At the same time, many staff members guided the people to the boxes to collect their "ballots".

What is a ballot?