Throughout history, whether at home or abroad, in periods of historical turmoil, there are often many outstanding spies who can stand out and become the right-hand men of the ruler at that time. But, after the political situation has stabilized, these people, because of the deep insider knowledge they have previously learned, often make it difficult for rulers to sleep, and their existence has already posed a real threat. So it usually doesn't take long for the vast majority of these people to "disappear" relatively quickly on the political stage. This has almost become an ironclad law, except only the speed and manner at which such people disappear.
Even if they want to fight, there are very few people who can successfully retreat. The struggle between Chiang Kai-shek and Xu Enzeng and Dai Kasa is, in the final analysis, still a continuation of the power struggle between the supreme ruler and the courtiers of feudal society, and it is also an inevitable by-product of any society that governs the country by espionage. From the cool officials Zhou Xing and Lai Junchen under Empress Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty, to the secret service agencies such as the East Factory and the West Factory set up by the eunuchs during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, to the National Security Committee of the Soviet Union, the result of implementing espionage rule, in the end, will cause the espionage forces to deform and expand, forming a trend of high power and shock, strong branches and weak cadres, and tails that cannot be lost, which in turn threatens the supreme ruler's own security.
As a result, the supreme ruler had to cut off or suppress the power of espionage again, and the abolition of the Secret Service Agencies of the East Factory and the West Factory in the Ming Dynasty was the most illustrative of this problem.
Once, Zhang Guodong, a great spy of the Central Unification, went to see Xu Enzeng and chatted with him. Xu En sighed unceasingly, and thoughtfully talked about the allusion of "inviting the king into the urn". He said that the most famous great spies in history were Zhou Xing and Lai Junchen in the era of Wu Zetian. Both Zhou and Lai had devoted their lives to supporting Wu Zetian's administration, which played an irreplaceable role in establishing the Wu Dynasty. However, the final outcome of the two people is "please enter the urn" and "rabbit dead dog cooking".
Xu En once expressed to Zhang Guodong with deep feelings that he did not complain about others, but only blamed Zhou and Zhu for knowing that the privacy of the Wu clique was too much, so Wu Zetian wanted to kill them. After saying this, he stared blankly at the ceiling. Zhang Guodong understood that Xu En had something in his words, nothing more than saying that the reason for his own downfall was not because of his lack of anti-communism or work mistakes, but because he had mastered too many shady scenes of the Chiang family dynasty. After a moment of silence, Xu En had owed himself, and his words turned to self-deprecatingly, saying that since ancient times, big spies were often not allowed to die. Fortunately, the commission of the "royal way" and the "benevolent government" were very generous to me, and did not borrow my head. This is truly the re-creation of the leader, and I will never forget it in this life. Speaking of this, Xu En once patted the door of his head with his hand, smiled bitterly, and said that he was glad that his head was still growing on his neck.
In fact, Xu En should really feel relieved for himself, there is no need and reason to be pessimistic and disappointed. Because just over a year after he stepped down, his nemesis, Dai Kasa, died in the wilderness. According to the analysis of historians, if it were not for Chiang Kai-shek's resolute suppression of the military unification organization after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, which caused Dai Kasa and others to be panicked and could not live forever, it would not have caused the consequences of the destruction of the machine and the death of people, but Xu Enzeng was able to avoid this disaster and ended up in Taiwan at the age of 87. From this point of view, Xu Enzeng's early resignation from power may not be a blessing. Is this really "Saion lost his horse, and he knew it was not a blessing"?
Resources
[1] Qi Wu: "Genealogy of The Kuomintang Super Agent"