In May 1918, Sun Yat-sen resigned as generalissimo in anger because he was dissatisfied with the reorganization of the military government by the Extraordinary Congress, and left Guangdong for Shanghai. For more than a year, Sun Yat-sen devoted himself to theoretical writings to arouse a new revolutionary movement, and in October 1919 he formally reorganized the Chinese Revolutionary Party into the Chinese Nationalist Party. During this period, the Kuomintang was at a low ebb in terms of politics, military affairs, and party affairs, and the "Kuomintang" did not highlight its organization and role as a political party, but was only a political force with Sun Yat-sen as the core, and the financial operations of the Kuomintang during this period were mainly centered on Sun Yat-sen.
During his stay in Shanghai, one of the many things that Sun Yat-sen handled was to reply to the repeated requests from party members in various localities for economic relief or subsidies. This was undoubtedly a difficult problem for Sun Yat-sen, who was busy writing. On March 3, 1919, Tao Lishen and other party members organized a livelihood society overseas and asked Sun Yat-sen to receive help, and Sun Yat-sen approved the letter: "According to the association of organizations in various countries, the expenses of the branch should be provided by the members, and the expenses of the branch (association) should be provided by the general association. Wen used to have a little spare strength, and often reluctantly coped with it. However, in the future, the living expenses of the article will also depend on the party members, so not only can we not provide for the needs of all localities with one person, but I hope that the party members in various places will be able to help me, otherwise we will not be able to make food overseas. In March 1919, Jiao Yitang wrote to Sun Yat-sen to sponsor the operation of the industry, and Sun Yat-sen replied: "The operation of the industry is a solid plan today, but the economy has been extremely difficult recently, and he cannot help his brother." Tao Senfu asked for "subsidy for party expenses" in order to "prepare for party affairs," and Sun Yat-sen replied: This kind of request "is suspected of putting the cart before the horse, and it is really a big mistake." For "according to the practice of all countries, the expenses of all associations and assemblies shall be taken from the members of the Party and from the Headquarters, and shall be taken from the branches by the majority of the members, and the majority of the branches shall be formed into a single Headquarters." It is also reasonable that the headquarters is based on the branch, and the branch is based on the party members. If the branch does not supply the headquarters with funds, but wants the headquarters to supply the branch with funds, how can the headquarters raise funds?"
In addition, a review of the Complete Works of Sun Yat-sen will also reveal many of Sun Yat-sen's replies to Party members' applications for relief during this period, which will not be repeated here. After the Second Revolution, the War to Protect the Country, and the Movement to Protect the Law, Sun Yat-sen and his party were already burdened with heavy financial burdens. Therefore, he can only answer such applications from party members with enlightenment and encouragement. Sun Yat-sen, who was based in Shanghai, was innovating revolutionary theories, planning and directing military operations to protect the law centered in Guangdong, and was also in charge of other important work of the newly formed Chinese Kuomintang. All of these must be widely funded and sustained. This also determined that during this period, raising revolutionary funds was still an important task for Sun Yat-sen and the Chinese Kuomintang. As Sun Yat-sen said, "At this time, party affairs are being expanded, and raising salaries is an urgent task."
During this period, the Kuomintang's fiscal revenue, as before, mainly relied on donations from overseas party members and overseas Chinese businessmen. For example, on September 16, 1919, Sun Yat-sen received a British and gold draft from an overseas party department, with a total payment of 48 pounds and 16 yuan. On March 2 of the following year, Sun Yat-sen received eight bills of exchange from Duan Pengxian, "a total of 35,000 taels of silver." On March 6, Sun Yat-sen was "extremely pleased" by Yu Ronghui, the head of an overseas branch, who received the "basic gold of three pounds and two pounds." Wu Xuehuang was also praised by Sun Yat-sen for "taking the lead in raising salaries to help the Guangdong army". In November 1920, when the Cuban branch of the Chinese Kuomintang received Sun Yat-sen's telegram on raising money to help fight against Mo Rongxin, it organized Cuban overseas Chinese to donate 30,000 yuan in silver and remit it to Sun Yat-sen through the Industrial and Commercial Bank of Hong Kong. Overseas Chinese party members in Japan are also "enthusiastic about mulberry trees" and enthusiastically donate funds.
During this period, Sun Yat-sen and the Kuomintang continued to carry out the "National Salvation Reserve" activities for overseas party members and overseas Chinese. Sun Yat-sen once wrote to overseas comrades and emphasized: "Although it is difficult to raise the National Salvation Reserve Fund for the time being, this move is of the utmost importance to the party, and we still hope to persuade it at any time and it will succeed." The Kuomintang headquarters also specially printed and cast the Patriotic Reserve Gold Medal. In the summer of 1920, the Kuomintang American Party Members' Congress also passed a resolution on the implementation of the National Salvation Reserve. According to the statistics of the beginning of 1920, a total of 884 members of the Chinese Kuomintang in Canada participated in the patriotic deposit, of which the largest number were Victoria and Kajiley. Sun Yat-sen then sent 2,900 patriotic medals, and later sent the same number of patriotic awards "as a reward." During the same period, Sun Yat-sen also specially instructed to issue 200 patriotic medals to the Ministry of Communications of Victoria as a special commendation. Because the ministry had telegraphed Liao Zhongkai 7,000 yuan when the army was on the rise of the French army last year, most of which were patriotic reserves. Overseas Chinese businessmen Ruan Rihua, Gao Liansi, and Gao Dunzhuo also won the certificate of merit from the Chinese Kuomintang for "saving huge sums of money and praising righteous deeds". Sun Yat-sen also instructed the San Francisco Party Department to "reward and raise salaries."
In addition to patriotic fund activities, Sun Yat-sen also directly sent people to raise funds overseas. For example, in the autumn of 1920, Sun Yat-sen sent a letter to the person in charge of a party organization somewhere overseas: "Due to the military development at the front, there is an urgent need for salary, so Chen Jun is specially sent to withdraw from the past, and all the funds raised by the honorable office are to be handed over to Chen Jun for reconciliation." Lin Sen launched a solicitation to donate money to build the Huanghuagang 72 Martyrs Ji Gong Stone Workshop, for which Sun Yat-sen sent a special letter to overseas comrades, hoping to "cooperate in donating". In January 1920, in order to propagate the party's doctrine, Sun Yat-sen initiated the establishment of the party's English newspapers and printing offices. The undertaking adopted the method of a joint stock limited company, and Sun Yat-sen called on overseas comrades to identify the shares and remit them to Shanghai within three months. However, after the circular was issued, the printing office "urgently needed to be opened, and the funds had not yet been fully recognized", so Sun Yat-sen sent special personnel to various overseas ports to solicit recruitment. Ju Zheng and Liao Zhongkai also sent separate letters to the heads of overseas party departments, asking them to "vigorously advocate persuasion" to help accomplish this "grand and long-term cause".
However, due to the huge amount of capital required for the two undertakings (according to Sun Yat-sen's budget, a total of about 520,000 yuan was required), and because overseas Chinese businessmen were affected by the economic crisis, "the state of embarrassment is unspeakable", although the comrades in various ports "have already confirmed" the share funds, but the actual payment is limited, so they have not been able to raise enough funds to start the business. During this period, in order to cooperate with the military operation, Sun Yat-sen entrusted Yu Yuzhi to "entangle Hong Kong businessmen to raise funds". Sun Yat-sen also sent a letter to Li Anbang and Li Qi'an, asking them to "borrow" money to supplement military salaries.
The funds raised by Sun Yat-sen during this period were mainly used to plan and finance the military operations of Chen Jiongming and other troops who returned to Guangdong to expel the Gui warlords. In order to develop and strengthen the Guangdong army, in terms of salary, Sun Yat-sen and others "tried to help every day". Sun Yat-sen mortgaged his residence in Shanghai twice, borrowing a total of 45,000 yuan, which was transferred by Liao Zhongkai to the troops stationed in Fujian and Guangdong as a fund. On April 2, 1920, Sun Yat-sen sent a telegram to Li Qi'an: "Hui Zhesheng handed over 10,000 yuan to Anbang" to instigate the military operation of the Cantonese army to return to Guangdong. When he called another general, he said: "When the 10,000 yuan arrives, when you send someone back to Guangdong, you are quite sure." Sun Yat-sen also said to Li Qi'an and other generals: "If Qin Lian can start an incident, he should raise another 5,000." On April 15, 1920, Sun Yat-sen sent a telegram to Sun Ke: "Today, the Bank of Guangdong will wire 20,000 yuan, 5,000 yuan for Qin, for cheap use, 5,000 yuan for buying coal, 3,000 yuan for Shantou, and 2,000 yuan for Zhu Benfu's road." The above should be carefully ascertained with Qi'an, and it is indeed certain that it can be used. Another $500 will be handed over to Ma Bolin by Qi'an, and the rest will be used for Hong Kong's preparations, and you will spend at your discretion. After all the preparations, Qin and Lian can take the lead, and the camera moves freely; Chao and Shanci should act together with the Guangdong army; It is widely a latecomer, and the water and land move in unison. Sun Yat-sen has always paid more attention to the actual role of this "incident fee" in order to achieve its effect. Subsequently, in order to support the crusade against the Gui family, Sun Yat-sen remitted another 10,000 yuan to a certain unit of the Hunan army. On July 20, 1920, Liao Zhongkai replied to Sun Yat-sen: The money carried by Liu Jiwen had been "properly handed over" to Chen Jiongming, and the specific amount was unknown. On October 8, 1920, Sun Yat-sen replied to Chen Jiongming that he had successively transferred 153,600 yuan of military salaries to Chen's department.
In order to support Chen Jiongming's military campaign, Sun Yat-sen also signed a contract with Huachang Company in Shanghai to purchase 10 radio sets for Chen's department at a cost of 40,000 yuan. In October 1920, Sun Yat-sen received a bill of exchange of 5,000 Hong Kong dollars from Chen Shuren and transferred it to Chen Jiongming. Sun also liaised in Shanghai about arms orders and aid requests for Chen Jiongming. Another part of the donation was for the Kuomintang army to "buy airplanes". In order to support the "Cantonese army against thieves," the Cuban compatriots donated 30,000 yuan in silver, and Sun Yat-sen was particularly moved by his "generosity of the donors and diligence of the recruiters." The Little Luzon branch also "helped Cantonese salaries and recruited good righteousness". There are also many overseas Chinese and party members who are also enthusiastic about losing the generals, in order to help the Guangdong army to fight for Gui. For party members who were not enthusiastic about donating funds, Sun Yat-sen instructed the person in charge of the branch to "always know the responsibilities and obligations of party members to the country, and cannot help the victory of our party and army."
However, it was clear that the funds raised by Sun Yat-sen and others overseas were not enough to cover the huge military expenditures at that time. At that time, the army that supported the Kuomintang's idea of protecting the law was "not less than 100,000 people, and the monthly salary required more than one million" in Sichuan, Shaanxi, Hunan, Fujian, Guangdong, and other places. Armies everywhere "rely on local levies to support themselves." This is also related to the militarized nature of the Dharma protector forces at that time.