| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立中興大學 === 歷史學系所 === 103 === On the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the Guangxi clique led by Li Zongren joined the war against the Empire of Japan. During his time of being Commander of the Fifth War Zone, he stopped the Japanese army from eliminating the main force of the zone. After mid-1941, the Japanese army was unable to launch large-scale operations on the Fifth War Zone. It was only after Li was removed from his position that the Japanese army started attack on the Fifth War Zone.
At the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War, Anhui Province was included in the Fifth War Zone. During the war, three people, Li Zongren, Liao Lei and Li Pinxian, were successively assigned Provincial Governor of Anhui. The Guangxi clique employed their experience from ruling pre-war Guangxi to run Anhui Province, and successfully took it under their wings. After the reign of the Guangxi clique, Anhui Province was under its sphere of influence in the post-war era.
From the beginning of the war, the Fifth War Zone was composed of several military cliques with extensive and complicated connections. In addition to maintaining a good relationship with clique leaders, Li Zongren had to settle the oppositions among them so that he could effectively command in the war. Such maneuver, however, raised suspicion from the central government. The concern was relieved after Li made repeated outstanding contributions in the war, but the guard was never put down.
During his time as Provincial Governor of Anhui, at the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War, Li Zongren did not oppose the establishment of networks from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), but the Gao Jingting case ensued accentuated Li’s growing feeling of dissatisfaction with the Communists. Li had already doubted the sincerity of the CCP. As government institutions were deeply infiltrated by the Communists, Li decided to exclude CCP’s involvement from all institutions and activities. After 1940, although their relationship was not overtly disrupted, the Guangxi clique stopped working with the CCP. Conflicts between them were constantly intensified. After the New Fourth Army Incident, collision between the Guangxi clique and the New Forth Army surfaced. The looting from both sides in Anhui Eastern Area never ceased during the Anti-Japanese War.
Li Zongren led the Guangxi clique to its peak of power during his service as Commander of the Fifth War Zone. Not only did he take over Anhui Province, but he also succeeded in maintaining good relationship with military commanders of the other cliques. Despite the central government’s concerns about hi, Li Zongren remained in the same position as a result of his obedience to orders from the central government. It was only after “Operation Ichi-Go,” an opportunity the central government purposefully seized, that Li was removed from the Fifth War Zone and promoted as Director of the Generalissimo''s Headquarters until the war was won.
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