?An introduction to Chiang Kai-shek’s right-hand man: Whampoa Military Academy tactical instructor Chen Chengyi

Introduction: (1893-1971) A native of Jingjiang, Jiangsu Province. Tactical instructor, Lieutenant General of the Kuomintang Army. In his early years, he studied at Jiangsu Army Primary School, Army No. 4 Middle School, and Baoding Military Academy. He participated in two Eastern Expeditions and was transferred to the head of the Fourth Regiment of the Teaching Corps after the Eastern Expeditions. During the Northern Expedition, he was promoted to commander of the 22nd Division of the National Revolutionary Army due to the Battle of Tingsi Bridge. In 1924, he was hired as a lieutenant colonel instructor. In 1932, he was appointed as the commander of the Luoyang garrison by the National Government, responsible for guarding the Central Committee of the Kuomintang and the National Government agencies. During the fourth large-scale "encirclement and suppression" campaign launched against the Hubei, Henan, and Anhui Soviet areas in 1932, he served as the commander of the second column of the Central Route Army. > He entered a private school since childhood, and Yang Yiqing, a Confucian master in his hometown, was his first teacher. He graduated from the third class of Jiangsu Army Primary School at the age of 14, and later entered the third class of Army No. 4 Middle School (located in Nanjing), during which time he joined the Chinese Tongmenghui. After the failure of the New Army uprising in Guangzhou in 1909, he secretly went to Guangzhou to attempt to launch another uprising, but failed and returned to Jiangsu. After the Wuchang Uprising broke out in October 1911, Chen continued to engage in liberation activities in Nanjing. After the founding of the Republic of China, the second revolution broke out in 1913, and he participated in the Kuomintang's secret military liaison. > In January 1914, he was admitted to the infantry department of the second phase of the Baoding Army Officer School and graduated in May 1916. After graduation, he was assigned to the First Battalion of the First Regiment of the 72nd Mixed Brigade of the Beiyang Army as a trainee officer, and soon returned to his hometown. In his hometown, he served as an instructor of the armed militia of the Jingjiang County Chamber of Commerce, during which time he married Zhang Zhihui. In October 1918, Chen was recommended by his brother-in-law Zhao Boxian (also known as Zhao Chen) and went to Guangdong at the invitation of Li Mingyang, a classmate of Army Primary School. In 1921, he served as the adjutant of the general headquarters of the Jiangxi Army in Guangdong, the company commander of the infantry regiment of the First Division of the Jiangxi Army in Guangdong, and the chief of staff of the battalion and detachment. In May 1924, Chen succeeded him as the tactical instructor of the Whampoa Military Academy's Teaching Department, and in October 1924, he was appointed as the battalion commander of the second battalion of the First Regiment of the Whampoa Military Academy Teaching Corps (He Yingqin was the commander). In November 1924, he married Wu Muchi in Guangzhou. In January 1925, Chen succeeded to the post of commander of the first battalion of the third phase of the Whampoa Military Academy Enlisted Corps. During his tenure, he led his troops to participate in the battle to quell the rebellion of the Guangzhou business group and the crusade against the Yunnan and Guangxi warlords. During the revolutionary army's first eastern expedition, he was ordered to lead a battalion to defend the eastern suburbs of Guangzhou. In May of the same year, he concurrently served as a tactical instructor at the Whampoa Military Academy headquarters. > In April 1937, Chen succeeded Zhang Zhizhong as the director of education of the Central Army Military Academy in Nanjing (Chiang Kai-shek was the principal), and also served as the director of the Education Department of the Central Army Military Academy headquarters. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Chen inherited the responsibility of moving the headquarters of the Central Army Military Academy to southwest China. He still served as the school's director of education and concurrently served as the captain of the officer education team of the Central Army Military Academy in Chengdu. In February 1938, he was appointed deputy director of the Military Training Department of the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government. In the spring of 1939, he concurrently served as director of the Sichuan Provincial Party, Government and Army Cadres Training Group and director of the Sichuan Recruit Supplementary Training General Division. In the summer of 1939, Chen succeeded in presiding over the establishment of the 14th and 25th Supplementary Forces Training Offices, which were reorganized into the Army's new 33rd Division and the 30th Division respectively in early 1942. In May 1942, he was dismissed from the post of director of education at the Central Army Military Academy. > Since then, he has lived in Chongqing for nearly two years. In the spring of 1944, he was recommended by Liu Zhi and appointed deputy commander-in-chief of the Chongqing Garrison Headquarters. In December 1944, he was transferred to the posts of Commander-in-Chief of the Sichuan-Hubei-Shaanxi-Gansu Border Region Headquarters. In February 1945, he was transferred to deputy commander-in-chief of the Sixth Theater and was stationed in Enshi, Hubei. In March 1945, he won the first-class Yunhui Medal. On May 20, 1945, he went to Chongqing to attend the Sixth National Congress of the Chinese Kuomintang and was elected as a member of the Central Executive Committee. After the end of the Anti-Japanese War, Chen Chengyi was awarded the Medal of Loyalty and Qin on October 10, 1945. Later, he served as the first deputy commander-in-chief of the 11th Theater Command and director of the Peiping Forward Command Post, where he presided over the surrender of the Japanese troops in North China. In May 1946, he received the Order of Victory. In August 1946, he served as commander-in-chief of the expanded Peking Garrison Headquarters. In November 1946, he was awarded the Medal of Freedom by the U.S. government. In January 1947, he won the first-class Guanghua Medal. In February 1947, the Eleventh War Zone Commander's Office was abolished, and he was appointed deputy director of the Baoding Appeasement Office, director of the Peking Command Post of the Baoding Appeasement Office, and commander-in-chief of the Peking Garrison Headquarters.

> On December 1, 1947, the Baoding Appeasement Office and the Zhangyuan Appeasement Office merged to form the North China Bandit Suppression Headquarters (Fu Zuoyi was appointed commander-in-chief). Chen succeeded him as the first deputy commander-in-chief, but was later transferred due to conflicts with Fu Zuoyi. . On October 30, 1948, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Nanjing Garrison Headquarters. After leaving office on January 21, 1949, he was transferred to the Strategic Advisory Committee of the Presidential Palace. In the spring of 1949, he moved to Guangzhou, Chongqing, and later Hong Kong with the government of the Republic of China. >