Chapter 61: Seeking the Skin of a Tiger
After Wang Jingwei, Zeng Zhongming, Zhou Fohai and others fled Guiyang to Hanoi, Vietnam, and delivered the infamous "fish telegram" of surrender to the enemy, they were secretly escorted by Japanese spies into Shanghai in April 1939 to organize a puppet central government.
Previously, the Japanese army had used traitors to establish a number of puppet regimes, including the Jidong Anti-Communist Autonomous Government, the Mongolian Military Government, the Provisional Government of the Republic of China, the Reform Government of the Republic of China, the Chahar Autonomous Government, the Northern Shanxi Autonomous Government, and the Mongolian League Autonomous Government. However, the Chinese people all knew the true face of these puppet regimes, so they had little appeal among the people.
The Japanese, who were unaware or pretended not to know that the Chinese national consciousness had awakened, still decided to use the old trick of passing off fake things as genuine. Due to the planning of the Japanese side, the puppet regimes in Peking and Nanjing were announced to be abolished, and the puppet "National Government of the Republic of China", commonly known as the Wang Puppet Regime, was formally established in Nanjing on March 30, 1940.
The Wang Puppet Regime continued to use the flag of a blue sky, a white sun and a red earth as the "national flag", but added a triangular piece of cloth on the top of the flag with the words "Peaceful Anti-Communism and Build a Nation" written on it.
Its organizational structure still used the organizational form of the Kuomintang regime. The first chairman of the "National Government" was Lin Sen, the chairman of the Guiyang National Government. Wang Jingwei himself served as the president of the Executive Yuan, acting chairman of the government and chairman of the Military Commission. Chen Gongbo served as the president of the Legislative Yuan, Wen Zongyao served as the president of the Judicial Yuan, Liang Hongzhi served as the president of the Control Yuan, and Wang Yitang served as the president of the Examination Yuan.
In addition, the Wang Puppet Regime also set up 14 ministries, including interior affairs, foreign affairs, finance, military affairs, navy, education, industry and commerce, judicial administration, agriculture and mining, railways, police affairs, transportation, society, and propaganda, as well as five committees, including relief affairs, frontier affairs, overseas Chinese affairs, water conservancy, and North China affairs, within its pseudo-Executive Yuan.
The court was filled with traitors of all sizes, including Wang Kemin, Ren Yuandao, Qi Xieyuan, and Zhou Fohai.
Although this puppet regime established under the protection of the Japanese was favored by the military top brass, at the very beginning of its debut and the farce of "returning to the capital", the middle and lower-level Japanese troops who were wholeheartedly hoping to annex the whole of China as a Japanese colony staged a scene of shooting at the national flag.
Unable to hold the middle and lower-level Japanese officers and soldiers accountable for their behavior, the Wang Puppet regime could only negotiate with the China Expeditionary Army Headquarters, but was reprimanded by the Japanese side. The puppet regime, which was dependent on the Japanese, had no choice but to obey the orders, and the whole incident ended with the Wang Puppet regime's concession.
The establishment of the Wang Puppet Regime was a huge blow to the Jiang regime in Guiyang. Chiang Kai-shek, who was in private contact with the Japanese, was furious when he heard the news of "the National Government returning to Nanjing" and Wang Jingwei's "Declaration of Returning to the Capital" on the radio.
He immediately ordered the Central Radio Station to broadcast at high power to the world, reiterating the Guiyang government's arrest warrant for Wang Jingwei and others: "All military and political agencies across the country should work together to strictly hunt down the suspects and punish them according to law to enforce discipline."
Chiang Kai-shek then realized that verbal shouting would not do anything to Wang Jingwei, so he immediately ordered a reward of 100,000 oceans for Wang Jingwei's head.
Under such circumstances, in order to declare their legitimacy and to obtain a good price in future bargaining with the Japanese, the Chiang faction's spy agency immediately fought a fierce battle with the Wang Puppet regime on the underground front, and a climax of the purge of traitors was set off in Shanghai and other places.
The establishment of the Wang Puppet Regime was naturally also criticized by the Northwest. However, given that the Wang Puppet Regime was actually unable to control the two earlier established puppet regimes, the North China Political Affairs Committee and the Mengjiang United Autonomous Government, the puppet troops in the Northwest were still mainly composed of the North China Security Army. Therefore, while the verbal battles between them were flying, secret connections were taking place unknowingly.
On April 3, four days after the establishment of the Wang Puppet Regime in Nanjing, Northwest Special Envoy Jin Shuren received Zhou Fohai, then Wang Puppet Finance Minister and Secretary-General of the Central Political Committee, at Xie Zhigeng's home in the Shanghai International Settlement.
Although Zhou Fohai was only a finance minister in the Wang Puppet regime, his position was very unique.
Long before the establishment of the Wang Puppet Regime, Zhou Fohai served as Wang Jingwei's plenipotentiary negotiator between the Japanese and signed two secret or "formal" traitorous treaties with the Japanese military government.
During the many negotiations with Japan, some of Wang's negotiators refused to accept Japan's harsh conditions. However, all the terms that could not be agreed upon in the formal talks were eventually compromised by the Japanese representatives and Zhou Fohai through informal negotiations.
Therefore, Zhou Fohai was deeply favored by the Japanese military, and he took this opportunity to become a "great diplomat" who negotiated between Wang Jingwei and the Japanese. Relying on the favor of his master, Zhou Fohai placed his private individuals in positions of power. It was said that all the traitorous officials in various academies, ministries, committees and councils of the Wang Puppet Regime were "finalized within ten minutes" by Zhou Fohai.
For this reason, Zhou Fohai once proudly publicized: "What a real man is most proud of is the realization of his ideals. The National Government returned to Nanjing, and the blue sky, white sun and red earth flag fluttered on the edge of the Stone City. It was entirely initiated by me alone, and I will be the center of the future."
Wang Zhaoming knew that Zhou Fohai was "grabbing power and appointing private individuals", but what was the use of knowing this? Zhou Fohai had the support of the Japanese, so Wang had no choice but to hand over the power of personnel to him and let him handle it.
In form, Zhou Fohai's status was second only to Wang Jingwei and Chen Gongbo. In fact, Zhou always held the power over diplomacy, finance, fiscal policy, military affairs, materials and espionage of the Wang puppet regime. He also directly controlled a well-equipped and strictly trained puppet tax police corps. Therefore, Zhou was a big traitor with real power, and was called the backbone and symbol of the "Wang's Government".
Since Zhou Fohai liked to seize power, he naturally did not get along well with other traitors. In order to suppress those who opposed him and competed for his favor, to demonstrate his ability and skills, and to further win credit from his Japanese masters, Zhou hoped that in addition to coordinating the relationship between Wang and Japan, he would have other achievements to rely on.
As the saying goes, "no flower lasts forever", the Japanese attack in China seemed to be unstoppable, but it was trapped in an unsustainable situation under the resistance of the Chinese military and civilians. Zhou Fohai was well aware of the Japanese army's subsequent weakness, so he used his personal relationship with Chiang Kai-shek to secretly establish a communication channel with the Military Control Commission and Guiyang senior officials.
Judging from the current distribution of domestic political power, although the Chiang faction that retreated to the southwest still occupies the orthodox position of the central government, the power displayed by the northwest appears to be even greater.
Therefore, Zhou Fohai, who was determined to have three burrows, tried many ways to see if he could get in touch with the northwest. Today's meeting was the result of several contacts.
"Brother De'an, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for so long."
Zhou Fohai, who got out of the car, took the initiative to greet Jin Shuren. The two had occasionally come into contact before, but they were not close friends. However, politicians' faces are always changeable, and Zhou Fohai is no exception.
"I'm sorry, I just visited Vice Admiral Mataro Tanimoto, the commander-in-chief of the First Fleet of Japan to China. The Japanese talk a lot, so I'm late."
"Minister Zhou is a very busy man. It's normal for him to have a lot of things to do as he coordinates between China and Japan."
Jin Shuren, who nominally held the titles of member of the Northwest Military Commission and member of the Northwest Propaganda Committee, but in fact had always been Dai Jiliang's personal representative, bowed to Zhou Fohai .
"As for the long wait, I don't deserve it. Brother Zhigeng and I are both old and talkative. Time flies by while we talk."
Xie Zhigeng, who was accompanying Jin Shuren, was originally a comprador. Although he was close to Britain and the United States and hated Japan and traitors because of his status and children, he still said different things to different people: "Brother De'an, you are wrong. You and Minister Zhou are both big figures who are busy with all kinds of affairs. Only a humble person like me can be truly idle."
"Boss Xie, you are too modest. Everyone knows that you are a well-known ship owner in Shanghai."
It was no secret that Xie Zhigeng's son-in-law and Dai Jiliang were sworn brothers in Shanghai, so Zhou Fohai was still relatively polite to him.
"If I could own a million-dollar property and live a leisurely life like Boss Xie, why would I need to be a busy clerk?"
"Minister Zhou is a key official in the central government and Chairman Wang's right-hand man. Who dares to say that the minister is just a clerk?"
Xie Zhigeng complimented.
"Minister, your joke is not funny."
"Thank you, Boss, for your compliment."
Although he spoke modestly, the smile on Zhou Fohai's face became even wider.
"I am just a lackey of Chairman Wang, and I just want to make some contributions to the peace between China and Japan." Jin Shuren smiled slightly, and did not respond to Zhou Fohai's words. He just extended his hand and said, "Brother Fohai, if you have anything to say, please go in and talk. Today, I will borrow Boss Xie's precious place. We can talk freely later."
So the three of them walked into the room one after the other modestly. After the two of them sat down, Xie Zhigeng, who had wanted to leave early in the morning, took the initiative to ask to leave and said, "Minister Zhou and Brother De'an, would you like coffee or black tea for your afternoon tea?"
Jin Shuren ordered black tea, while Zhou Fohai ordered coffee. After Xie Zhigeng left, Jin Shuren asked, "Brother Fohai, we are meeting today. Number 76 shouldn't know about it, right?"
Zhou Fohai himself was the chairman of the Wang Puppet Special Service Committee, but at this time, he could not directly control No. 76. The deputy director of the Special Service Committee, Ding Mocun, and the deputy director of the Special Service Headquarters, Li Shiqun, were not his people, and they even monitored and restrained each other. Therefore, it was normal for Jin Shuren to express concern about this.
"This time I came directly from the Japanese naval headquarters in Hongkou. No. 76 doesn't have the guts to go to the Japanese and act wildly."
Zhou Fohai did not shy away from anything and answered directly.
"As for the Japanese spies, at least for now they can't do whatever they want in the International Settlement."
"Yes, the international situation is extremely unfavorable to the British and French powers."
Jin Shuren nodded.
"In order to save the foundation, the power of Britain and France in Asia must be reduced."
Jin Shuren looked at Zhou Fohai's expressionless face and his smile grew wider.
"It is precisely because of this that your Excellency has specifically asked an old man like me to come to Shanghai despite my illness."
"I feel Commander-in-Chief Dai's sincerity."
Zhou Fohai adjusted his glasses.
"But I believe that Commander-in-Chief Dai will not easily compromise with the Japanese. Therefore, I want to know what Commander-in-Chief Dai hopes I can do for him?"
"Brother Fohai is really a quick-witted person. Then I won't be polite."
Jin Shuren stroked his beard.
"First, I hope that both sides can join hands in opposing Chiang Kai-shek and the Communists. Second, I hope that you can facilitate the import of some of our supplies. Third, if any of our intelligence personnel have problems, I would like to ask Minister Zhou to rescue them."
"Being anti-Chiang and anti-Communist shouldn't be a problem, but the other things are very tricky."
Zhou Fohai asked back.
“I wonder what I can get out of this?”
