The Vulture - Thanks Vulture, cheers to you and your excellent TL - I would like to do a crossover piece one day - with your permission of course
The theathre of Mu could be an interesting battleground for World War II...
Domoviye - Thank you very much , much appreciated
Fenrir_Angerboda - No they aren't but you know what they say, when things hit rock bottom the only way to go is up...
Paul MacQ - You're absolutely right - The Chinese will be a fusion of German and Russian doctrine, equipment, political thought. Not only the good ideas but also the bad...
Nivek - He dies pretty soon
Like right in this update soon. You're right about the Chinese things - the fact that the Axis has a democracy fighting on their side for the "liberation of oppressed colonial peoples' will confuse the hell out of the Pro-allied/pro-entete lobby ITTL. Rather than being a clear cut case of bad vs evil IOTL, the 2nd World War will be a case of grey vs grey where both sides have sufficient 'right' on their side...
Dan Reilly The Great -
The second world War ITTL will make the World War IOTL look simple by comparison!
Brancaleone - Exactly! It's funny what a difference sending someone to Germany makes doesn't it? Of course a certain Lev Bronstein might still end up with a pickaxe on his head - except maybe the location will be in Nanking!
Three Weddings and a Funeral - The Beginning of the Nanking Decade
The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of a million? A mere statistic.
- Sun Yat-sen, Diary entry January 1 1929
1929 would usher the beginning of the "Nanking Decade" - an unparalleled time of peace, prosperity and modernization in Chinese historyl New railways would be built, new companies founded, the military modernized and everything seemed to be hurtling toward at lighting speeed towards a brand new age of progress. What was to be a decade of power and progress however, began with a death. Some would call it a tragedy, some could call it a mircale but on January 24 1929 - the founder of the Kuomintang, President, Prime Minister and Premier of China Sun Yat-sen lay dead in his bed.
An autopsy revealed that it had been a quick and relatively painless death with Sun having a massive stroke in his sleep and dying. Whether he had been a saint or a sinner one fact held sway - Sun had left a big influence on the make up of China. He had taken the Kuomintang from a dusty cramped hideout in a shady part of Shanghai to masters and rulers of China. Although he had somewhat (some would say drastically) declined during his later years, the fact that he had unified China would leave him in the annals of history - in hindsight.
Chen Jieru - one of Sun's many concubines. Chen was given as a 'token of goodwill' by Du Yuesheng and is suspected of controlling Sun.
For the moment, when Sun died there was a palpable sigh of relief across the KMT leadership. Sun had become increasingly paranoid and mistrustful of the "triumverate" Sun's diaries and other circumstantial evidence point to Sun's growing collaboration with the Gangster Governor Du Yuesheng. Some had even said that Du was drugging Sun and controlling him through one of Sun's concubines a certan Chen Jieru. However, Chinese historiography is generally fond of the trope of a strong woman being a manipulative and greedy hag so we must take these accusations with a certain grain of salt.
One of the many "spontaneous grief processions" greeting the news of Sun's death on the streets of Nanking.
Despite the private joy of many KMT leaders, they still had to maintain an appropriate level of decorum and show a respect to China's first president. The great leader who had united the nation. Although he was a flawed man - Sun still had achieved extraordinary things and the KMT would not have gotten as far without him.
"Grief processions" were organized nationwide, all around China. Some of the mournings were real, others faked. However it was said that no one in China was mourning harder about Sun's death than Du Yuesheng. On February 1 1929, Sun Yat-sen was finally laid to rest - his image tarnished, but his legacy intact.
Du Yuesheng had been filling the void that Sun's madness had left. His agents were at every possible echelon of government, party and military admininstrations. In the west he was viewed as a friendly sympathethic figure. A French report compiled by the head of the French concession in Shanghai (Fessender) described Du as a
"remarkable individual who we can trust to crush the bolsheviks" He had been immensley accumulating power and prestige at the expense of Wang, Chiang and Soong. Perhaps in a few years had Sun continued to live he might have eclipsed even the three of them.
But this was not to be. The "Triumverate" consisting of Chiang, Wang and Soongg moved quickly after Sun's death establishing themselves as the pre-eminent figures. They quickly called for a "Party Congress" to decide
"the future leadership of our leading movement." However, in reality the three men had already decided the makeup of the future of the party.
In a restaurant in the Italian concession in Tianjin, the three men met on February 14 to decide the future of the nation. It was in the restaurant called "Granita" that the fate of China - and of the world would be decided by three men. It was in Granita that the destinies of 500 million would be decided over sweet Italian desert food.
The First Wedding: The Granita Pact
The three men met in complete secrecy, with their own bodyguards not even being bought with them for protection. They met in an obscure restaurant where no one would suspect. Afterall, Tianjin paled in importance to Nanking, Guangzhou and Shanghai - who would suspect a plot there? The three emerged 12 hours later after a long and wearisome discussion covering a wide range of topics. Whatever the three agreed however, it would not be and could not be to the centralization of power at the hands of one man. Sun Yat-sen had shown them how dangerous such an approach could be and the three men were democrats, by experience if not by conviction.
President Chiang Kai-shek poses for a photo
Chiang Kai-shek emerged as the President of China. They agreed that only Chiang had the moral authority (not to mention the guns!) to lead China through a turbulent era. The 'foreign devils' were not to be trusted and China needed to be awake militarily, the "eastern dwarves" posed an even greater threat being only a few miles away. Furthermore, Chiang was acceptable to both Soong and Wang and was seen as a 'politically safe' choice by a wide faction of people including communists, reactionaries, progressives and liberals. The President of China needed to be someone who could - and would lead a broad coalition of figures. In exchange for the Presidency Chiang agreed to take a 'hands-off' approach to domestic policy - leaving Wang and Soong to debate it. Chiang also agreed to make 'limited use' of his veto powers (the President could veto any bill passed regardless of a majority) To ensure that this would follow the constitution was rewritten so that the Legislative Yuan (the Chinese Parilament) could force a reelection of the President with a simple majority. Despite having had to make several concessions - Chiang still emerged as a very powerful man. He was still Commander-in-Chief of ther Armed Forces, he could suspend the constitution and parliament in 'times of national crisis or emergencies' and his role as the head of a broad coalition and not a faction granted him significant moral authority over Wang and Soong. Chiang could rule by both the pen and the sword.
Wang Jingwei midspeech - his significant powers of oratory and charisma made him a very powerful politician.
Wang Jingwei emerged from the meeting with two very powerful positions. Chiang and Soong both agreed to back Wang for the post of Party President and as Prime Minsiter (which he was entitled to anyway as the leader of the biggest party in the Yuan.) Chiang also agreed to significantly divest domestic issues to the Yuan. This gave Wang immense potential for power, he could even become more powerful than the president if he played his cards right. However he had to dilute some of this power - he made a deal with T.V Soong - Soong would give Wang free hand with domestic and social policy and give him money that the programmes needed if Wang gave Soong a free hand on economic affairs. Wang agreed.
T.V Soong - the Premier of China.
T.V Soong was the third member of this "Triumverate" in a sense he was the weakest of both men in the sense that he was the only player to not possess an army. He was also the strongest in the sense that he possessed a solid understanding of economic issues. T.V Soong was also fabolously wealthy and well-connected being the darling and patron of China's emerging and increasingly important merchant classes. From the meeting he solidified his position as the steward of the economy. T.V Soong was named Premier (the equivalent of Chancellor) and was given responsibility for the efficient functioning of the state bureacracy. T.V Soong's power was in numbers and wealth and his new appointments solidified his strenghts.
The Second Wedding: Chiang and the Soongs
The happy couple on their wedding day
T.V Soong also had another weapon up his sleeve, one of his sisters, Soong Meiling was being courted by Chiang. After Sun's death what had been a mildly irritating fliration now became an urgent matter of political alliance. Clan politics had been used to solidify alliances since the dawn of Chinese history and it would be used again now.
The two were married on March 21. Although it was a political marriage the two were genuinely in love. This is when Du Yuesheng is said to have made the greatest mistake of his political career. After getting (secretly) married at a church, the two made their way to the Chinese wedding ceremony going in separate limousines. Chiang arrived there and waited for Meiling. After an agitated two hours, Du Yuesheng arrived uninvited driving Meiling to the ceremony. He said that Meiling had been found 'motoring through the streets withour protection.' For her own 'safety' she had been taken to a 'safe villa' perhaps if he'd heard of the wedding he would've bought her 'sooner.' Du left shaking his head after saying that he found Chiang's conduct 'deplorable' and he should 'take better care of your lovely wife.' Such visits were not uncommon for Du to prominent politicians to remind them of his power. At the time it is likely that Du did not know of the Granita deal and thought it unlikely that Chiang would suceed Sun. It didn't matter to Chiang - he had been humiliated and emasculated at his own wedding cermony. Du would meet a grisly end at the hand of Chiang's government many years later where he would end up *SPOILER:
HANGING FROM A MEATHOOK SPOILER*
The Third Wedding: The Kuomintang and China
The "Kuomintang Extraordinary Party Congress" was called for May 4 - one of the anniversaries of the movement. It took place in Nanking with tens of thousands of delegates and many more visitors. The Granita Pact held and the Triumverate took the positions that they had agreed to many weeks before. However despite this, Du's faction had put in a reasonable performance - it was estimated that 35-45% of the KMT followed Du's instructions or were in some way sympathetic to his goals. The party and China would need a cleanup one day. Elections were called for and won on a significant margin the concept of a 'tutelage' period thoroughly discredited by Sun's long decline, the Presidential Election would take place in 1932 and an election for the Legislative Yuan would take place in 1933.
Next Update:
1930 The Red Protector
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