The price of Mr. Song Meiling's calligraphy

Text/Panda Literature and History Collection

In modern history, Chiang Kai-shek was able to seize power among many warlords and bosses for two reasons. First of all, he became the president of Whampoa Military Academy, which gave him a lot of fresh troops. Second, he combined with the Song family and the Kong family.

These two blessings, coupled with personal ability, made Chiang Kai-shek stand out, but almost two important conditions for Chiang Kai-shek's "success" fell on others, who not only refused to be the president of Whampoa Military Academy, but also took the initiative to get rid of Chiang Kai-shek and Song Meiling. What kind of person is this?

This man is Tan, a native of Chaling, Hunan Province, and he is also known as the third son of Huxiang with Tan Sitong of Chen. 1904, Tan took part in the last imperial examination in the late Qing Dynasty and won the first place. Later, he took part in the court examination, ranking the 35th second-class scholar.

In fact, when Tan Zhong's name was handed over to Cixi, when he saw that Tan was from Hunan and his surname was Tan, he thought of Tan Sitong of the Reform Movement of 1898, and some people personally scratched Tan Zhong's number one in disgust.

Although Tan is the top scholar, his personal ability cannot be crossed out. Later, Tan returned to Hunan to run a school, and one of his colleagues was Huang Xing.

Inspired by Huang Xing, Tan gradually perfected his thoughts, and later became the governor of Hunan, but was driven away by his heartless subordinate Zhao Hengti. 1922, he met Sun Yat-sen as a secretary.

Tan used his influence to contact some Hunan people and organized an army, which made great contributions to the crusade against Chen Jiongming.

Sun Yat-sen began to pay attention to Tan.

Under the impetus of Sun Yat-sen, Tan began to make a fortune. He became not only the Minister of the Interior of Guangzhou National Government, but also the Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Expedition Army. Later, the two sides cooperated to build the Whampoa Military Academy, and Sun Yat-sen first thought of Tan.

Tan not only has experience in running a school, but also has strong ability. He was also an academician of the former Qing Dynasty, so Tan was the best candidate. But Tan doesn't think so.

Although I have good literary talent, good calligraphy and military experience, I don't have the world's advanced military theory and experience in running a school, and I have no experience in studying abroad. It is better to leave it to young people than to let inexperienced people run their own schools.

With Tan's refusal, Chiang Kai-shek had the opportunity to become the president of Whampoa Military Academy, but Tan's name was not rejected at all. Calligraphy is really his forte. So the original name of Whampoa Military Academy was written by Tan. Not only that, but later Chiang Kai-shek made Nanjing his capital, and the four characters of "National Government" in Nanjing were also written by Tan.

Hu admired Tan's mind and talent, and he commented that Tan was "calm in every major event".

Later, his wife Tan passed away. Before his wife died, he begged Tan to take care of his three children. Tan and his wife have deep feelings and once swore in front of her: "Never remarry."

Sun Yat-sen intends to fix up a marriage with Tan. At this time, Tan is 44 years old, but still in his early twenties, and he is still a classmate with his daughter. Tan refused Sun Yat-sen's kindness on the grounds that Sun Yat-sen vowed not to continue his marriage before his death, and let his daughter become sisters, which not only offended people, but also brought them closer.

In fact, Tan has long discovered that Chiang Kai-shek is very interested. His active concession is the beauty of an adult, and he also used Song Meiling's "adoptive father" status to fix Chiang Kai-shek and Song Meiling, so that they finally came together.

Tan is also a gourmet. The Hunan cuisine invented by him and his chef is the origin of modern Hunan cuisine. But despite its shortcomings, Tan Yankai suffered a cerebral hemorrhage after eating a shark fin meal at the age of 50. Chiang Kai-shek rushed to the hospital after receiving the news that the "benefactor" was ill, and ordered that it must be rescued, but it was still not saved.

Chiang Kai-shek thanked Tan for his help. After Tan's death, Chiang Kai-shek married Tan Xiang, Tan's daughter, and his general Chen Cheng. Later, they got married, which was a reward to the old benefactor.