The death of Chiang Kai-shek's "literary boldness" Chen Bray

When the New Year's bell rang in 1949, Chiang Kai-shek's heart was filled with a sense of sadness, not only because of the fiasco of the war situation, but also because the secretary Chen Bray, who had silently drafted countless manuscripts for him, had left him!

As Chiang Kai-shek's "literary boldness," Chen Bray has always been loyal to Chiang Kai-shek. He followed Chiang Kai-shek for twenty-two years, and many of Chiang Kai-shek's manuscripts were written by him. For example, Chiang Kai-shek's "Tribute to the Prime Minister" after the success of the Northern Expedition, the "Serving the Country and Loving Relatives" on the occasion of Chiang Kai-shek's fiftieth birthday, the "Xi'an Half Moon Chronicle" after the peaceful settlement of the Xi'an Incident in 1936, and the "Letter to the People" after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in 1937 were all ghostwritten by Chen Brei.

Chen Bray is quick-witted. After the Xi'an Incident, Zhang Xueliang personally accompanied Chiang Kai-shek back to Nanjing from Liang'an, spending the night in Luoyang on the way. Chiang Kai-shek stayed at the Luoyang Military Academy. In the evening, Chiang Kai-shek dictated carelessness, and Chen Bray waved more than 3,000 words of "Instructions to Zhang Yang" that night. The next day, as soon as Chiang Kai-shek arrived in Nanjing, he immediately handed over the "Instructions to Zhang Yang" to the newspapers for publication. This article is actually Chiang Kai-shek's statement on the current situation after the Xi'an Incident.

On July 19, 1937, Chiang Kai-shek declared in his "Last Moment" at the Lushan Talk: "If you give up your land and sovereignty, you will be a sinner of the Chinese nation throughout the ages." "If the war is over, then there will be no distinction between the north and the south, no distinction between the old and the young, and no matter who it is, it will have the responsibility of defending the territory and resisting the war." For a time, these few words spread throughout the land of China and played a positive role in promoting the all-people War of Resistance. This important speech by Chiang Kai-shek is also written by Chen Bray.

Chen Brei was born on November 15, 1890, to a family of tea merchants in Cixi County ,now Yuyao City, Zhejiang Province. In 1911, he graduated from Zhejiang Higher School, and while passing through Shanghai, he lived in the Tianduo newspaper. At that time, Dai Jitao, who was working for the Tianduo newspaper, took a leave of absence from marriage and asked him to represent him. So, at the age of twenty-one, he served as a reporter and writer for the Shanghai Tianduo newspaper, taking the pen name "Bray". The following year, he joined the League. From 1920 onwards, he was the editor-in-chief of the Shanghai Shang Bao, sharply attacking the Beiyang warlords, which was well received by Sun Yat-sen. Zou Taofen called him "not only a sense of justice, but also a revolutionary character." At that time, the people hated the warlords and devoted themselves to the Northern Expedition, and his articles often performed the duties of the people's mouthpiece with sharp pen and fair attitude."

In 1924, Chiang Kai-shek served as the principal of the Whampoa Military Academy and the commander of the First Army of the National Revolutionary Army in Guangzhou, and gradually gained a firm foothold in the hands of military power. At this time, he began to feel that there were only military generals around him, and he lacked literary talent. In the spring of 1926, when Shao Lizi went to Shanghai to work at the behest of the Kuomintang Central Committee, Chiang Kai-shek specially forwarded a photo of himself to Shao Lizi to Chen Brei to express his admiration.

On July 9, 1926, Chiang Kai-shek was inaugurated as commander-in-chief of the National Revolutionary Army in Guangzhou, and swore to serve in the Northern Expedition. The Northern Expedition was victorious, and Chiang Kai-shek led his troops into Nanchang. On February 1, 1927, on the night of the lunar Chinese New Year's Eve, Chen Brei was invited to Nanchang. The next day, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, I went to see Chiang Kai-shek. The two saw each other as they were, and they talked very happily. Chiang Kai-shek asked Chen Bray for a long talk time and again. One day, Chiang Kai-shek was anxious to write a "Letter to Huangpu Classmates," and Chen Brei immediately "drew his pen to help."Chiang Kai-shek dictated it, chen Bray grabbed the knife, and with one swing, he finished the manuscript, and Chiang Kai-shek was deeply satisfied.

In the same year, introduced by Chiang Kai-shek and Chen Guofu, Chen Bray and Pan Gongzhan joined the Kuomintang.

Shortly after Chen Brei returned to Shanghai, on March 21, Chiang Kai-shek led his troops into Shanghai. Immediately afterward, he launched the "April 12 Coup", which dealt a heavy blow to the strength of the Chinese Communist Party. On April 18, Chiang Kai-shek established the National Government in Nanjing. At the warm invitation of Chiang Kai-shek, Chen Bray came to Nanjing from Shanghai in January 1928.

Since then, Chen Bray has become Chiang Kai-shek's personal secretary and important aide, known as "leader Wen Bi" and "president's think tank". Later, unable to withstand Chiang Kai-shek's repeated persuasion, Chen Brei successively served as secretary general of the Kuomintang Central Committee Party Department, executive vice minister of the Ministry of Education of the National Government, deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the Kuomintang Central Committee, director of the Second Office of the Attendant Office of the Chairman of the Military Commission of the Kuomintang Government, and acting secretary general of the Political Committee of the Kuomintang Central Committee. Although on the surface Chen Bray was proud of the spring breeze, in fact, in the depths of his heart, there was an unspeakable pain.

What embarrassed Chen Brei the most was the writing of "Xi'an Half Moon" for Chiang Kai-shek. It was after the Xi'an Incident that Chiang Kai-shek returned to Nanjing to make the "truth" of the Xi'an Incident public and let the people of the world know how Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng "rebelled." In early 1937, Chiang Kai-shek, who was recuperating at the mouth of Fenghua Xikou, summoned Chen Bray, showed him his diary when he was imprisoned in Xi'an, and told him about his experiences in the Xi'an Incident. Chen Brei understood that the "Half Moon Chronicle of Xi'an" was difficult to write, so he pushed back: "I have not been to Xi'an, and I am not very clear about the chaotic process, I am afraid that it will be difficult for the leader to have high hopes." Chiang Kai-shek said, "It doesn't matter, you just write it as I said." ”

On February 2, Chen Bray accompanied Chiang Kai-shek to Hangzhou, and Chiang Kai-shek again gave Chen Bray his diary to supplement his experience of the Xi'an Incident. Chen Bray could not disobey the order, so he had to write the "Half Moon Of Xi'an" for Chiang Kai-shek in extreme pain. Chen Brei frankly said in his diary: "Yu's remarks and thoughts today cannot be asserted by himself. The shell and the soul have gradually become one with others. Life has instincts, who can be willing to do it! Since then, he has said many times, "I can't use my pen to reach what I say" and "it is painful to catch a knife for people." He once compared himself to "a woman who marries a man, and it is difficult to disobey his master"!

Chen Brei's inner pain intensified day by day, causing him to suffer.

On November 12, 1948, Chen Bray said to Deputy Tao: "I want to cut a haircut." After the haircut, he said to Deputy Tao: "I have to write something important tonight, any guests are missing, the phone is not answered, you don't come up to urge me to sleep, I write that I will take medicine to sleep." He went up the stairs, turned back halfway through, and added, "Let me be quiet!" The adjutant thought he was going to write an important article, so he thanked him. He was really writing behind closed doors, but what was written was his suicide note! Chen Brei wrote a suicide note to Chiang Kai-shek, in which he declared: "My heart is pure and straight, and I have no private thoughts except loyalty to my father." He left a suicide note to his wife, brothers, and friends. In the night, he took a lot of sleeping pills and left this world on the morning of November 13...

"Let me be quiet!" It became the last sentence left by Chen Bray.

According to Yun, there were two direct reasons for Chen Bray's death: First, in the face of the situation in which the Kuomintang army was defeated like a mountain, he once suggested to Chiang Kai-shek that peace talks be held with the Communists, but Chiang Kai-shek rebuked him bitterly, declaring that "peace talks mean surrender."; second, at the meeting of the Kuomintang Central Committee on November 8, 1948, Chiang Kai-shek said that "it will take eight years to resist the war of resistance and eight years to suppress bandits." Chen Brei thought that this was inappropriate, and when compiling the records of Chiang Kai-shek's speech, he deleted this remark, and was reprimanded by Chiang Kai-shek. It is also rumored that what annoyed Chiang Kai-shek the most was that on December 25, 1947, Mao Zedong gave a report entitled "The Present Situation and Our Tasks" at a meeting of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. In early 1948, the Kuomintang intelligence services put the text of Mao's report on Chiang Kai-shek's desk. Chiang Kai-shek carefully looked at it carefully, and just as Chen Brei came in, Chiang Kai-shek inadvertently said to Chen Brei: "Look at how well people's articles are written!" Chen Bray blurted out and said: "People's articles are written by themselves!" This sentence deeply stung Chiang Kai-shek's heart.

When Chiang Kai-shek learned of Chen Brei's death, he immediately went to the scene to mourn and was extremely sorry. He wrote down the words "Contemporary Perfection" to mourn Chen Bray. Chiang Kai-shek spoke highly of Chen Bray: "Fearing the Lei (Chen Brei's pen name) rafter pen, more than a million divisions", "summarizing his life, the firmness of his deeds, the loyalty of the country, the respect of his life, the honesty of his wealth, enough to be a model for humanity."

On November 14, 1948, the JoongAng Daily published a telegram from the Central News Agency, declaring:

Chen Brei died suddenly of a heart attack at 8 a.m. yesterday. After talking to his friends the night before, Chen still handled the manuscript, everything was as constant, and it was late to go to bed. Yesterday morning, because Chen Shi got up late, entered the room to save his vision, saw that the face was different, and urgently delayed the diagnosis and treatment of the doctor, found that his pulse had stopped, and the injection was ineffective. Chen is now 59 years old, weak in physical strength, heart disease and insomnia have a long history, and cannot sleep peacefully without taking medicine. I have been slightly tired in recent days; I am still working as usual, and I do not care. Unexpectedly, due to heart weakness, I suddenly couldn't afford to tell...

Four days later, on November 18, the Central News Agency telegraphed the true circumstances of Chen Brei's death.

After Chen Bray's death, his family and secretary's entourage inspected the relics, and found a copy of the president's letter in the official documents, and wrote letters to Zhang Daofan, Hong Lanyou, Pan Gongzhan, Cheng Cangbo, Chen Fang, Li Weiguo, Tao Xisheng's friends, and his wife and son. On the 15th, He found Chen Bray's handwritten miscellaneous notes on the 11th, which Chiang Kai-shek had read.

Chen Brei's death made Chiang Kai-shek feel a little sad in the midst of embattled songs.

By the way, Chen Bray has six men and two women, the eldest daughter Chen Xiu and the second daughter Chen Lian are both underground members of the CCP, which is also quite unexpected, but Chen Brei did not know about this before his death.

Author: Ye Yonglie (Excerpt from "Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek" with abridgement, recommended by Wang Shiquan)

Edit: Sun Mengxin

Review: Zhang Leli