In the first half of the 20 th century, Dai Li, who could be said to be a "myth" and a genius in the intelligence community, single-handedly established and led the huge intelligence organ of the Military Command Bureau. Because of his uncertain whereabouts and elusiveness, the world called him "the Gestapo of the East", "the most mysterious figure in Asia", and "the natural spy leader", and his opponents described him as "the demon of military command".
Dai Li, formerly known as Dai Chunfeng, was born in 1897 in a poor family in Baoan Village, Jiangshan County, Zhejiang. In his early years, he served as a soldier in the Zhejiang Army, and later left the army to Shanghai, where he met Chiang Kai-shek, Dai Jitao and others at the Shanghai ** Exchange. In 1923, he joined the Axe Gang. Because Dai Li and Dai Jitao have the same surname, worship Dai Jitao as an uncle, under the introduction of Dai Jitao, Dai Li went south to Guangzhou, and in 1926 was admitted to the sixth phase of the Whampoa Military Academy and became a cadet of the cavalry class. In school, Dai Li's talent was outstanding, his performance was outstanding, he was favored by Chiang Kai-shek, and before graduating, he became Chiang Kai-shek's staff officer, and later became the director of the secret service under the Fuxing Society (that is, the predecessor of the Military Unification Bureau), plotting the assassination of the traitor Zhang Jingyao, etc., to gain important bargaining chips for his future officialdom career. From then on, Dai Li followed Chiang Kai-shek in the southern and northern wars, never left Chiang Kai-shek's side, and became Chiang Kai-shek's sword and confidant. Dai Li had many friends and connections, but he was only loyal to Chiang Kai-shek all his life, and for Chiang Kai-shek, he could sacrifice everything, including his own life. In all Dai Li's letters to Chiang Kai-shek, it is always "how the principal is, how the students are". When Chiang Kai-shek appointed him as deputy director of the Military Administration Bureau (the person in actual power), Dai Li's loyalty to Chiang Kai-shek may be reflected in the face of the "Xi'an Incident". In 1936, before Chiang Kai-shek left for Xi'an, Dai Li had secretly reported to Chiang Kai-shek that Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng would mutiny, and advised Chiang Kai-shek not to go to Xi'an. However, Chiang Kai-shek did not listen to his advice for the sake of the country, and insisted on going, and sure enough, as soon as he arrived in Xi'an, he was placed under house arrest by Zhang Xueliang and others, and Dai Li received a secret telegram from the commander of the division stationed in Tongguan: "There is a mutiny in Xi'an, and the chairman of the committee has no information." When other military and political dignitaries did not dare to go to Xi'an, Dai Li, with two pistols, went to Xi'an alone to rescue. But as soon as he got off the plane, the pistol was confiscated and he was held in the basement of Zhang Xueliang's mansion.
At this time, Dai Li thought that he was more than lucky, but all he thought about was the safety of the principal, he wrote in his diary: "Since I came here yesterday afternoon, I have been monitored, the situation has been silently observed, and I am not far from death. Later, as soon as Dai Li saw Chiang Kai-shek, he knelt down to confess his guilt, which greatly moved Chiang Kai-shek. After the Xi'an Incident, Chiang Kai-shek was very kind to Dai Li, who wanted to be imprisoned and killed. From then on, Dai Li became more loyal to Chiang Kai-shek and worked wholeheartedly for the military command. Dai Li's loyalty to Chiang Kai-shek was completely in accordance with Chiang Kai-shek's ideology, but only for the anti-Japanese resistance, his strength of will can be said to be incomparable. According to the intoxicating memories of one of the four King Kongs of the former military command, when the Battle of Songhu broke out, Dai Li insisted on the front line in Shanghai during the day, while busy organizing intelligence warfare against Japan, while trying his best to organize and establish a military command armed special force to assist the regular army in combat. In 1946, Dai Lizai was killed in a plane crash. After Dai Li's death, people sorted out Dai Li's relics and found that in addition to books, Dai Li's relics were only a small leather bag, and they were all his personal clothes, which made the Kuomintang ** present all moved, and Chiang Kai-shek was even more embarrassed.
As for the cause of Dai Li's plane crash, there are different opinions, some point out that it was man-made, and that it may have been the US Strategic Intelligence Agency, and some even say that Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Meiling sent people to assassinate ......However, it is a fact that Dai Li's death and the drastic changes in the military command have taken place. Due to the downsizing of institutions and internal power struggles, the power of the military command was weakened, the leaderless military command went into decline, and Chiang Kai-shek was finally defeated in Taiwan.