The Fall of Chiang Kai-Shek

By October, the combined forces of the Sichuan Clique and Japanese forces had managed to shatter the Kuomintang Army and capture Chiang Kai-Shek. Wang Jingwei offered positions in the Provisional Government to the Sichuan Clique comparable to those they had had under Chiang with added benefits which they were quick to accept.
Chiang was tried and found guilty of treason to the Chinese state. He would be executed November 27, 1943.

With the Provisional Government now in full control of the country, Wang Jingwei signed a treaty with Japan recognizing Manchukuo, Menjiang, the Xinjiang Republic, and numerous trade policies which favored the Japanese Empire. It also allowed for Japanese occupation at key points throughout China and limited China's military size and composition.

The communists under Mao would struggle on though without military aid they found their support faltering. The Japanese and Provisional forces destroyed every village suspected of helping the communists, killing hundreds of thousands and eroding all support for the guerillas until Mao would be captured in 1945, given up by a traitor in his own ranks.

SOURCE: Liu Bao The Fall of the Kuomintang

Sichuan Clique Switches Sides!

21 September 1943 - The Sichuan Army has parted ways with Chiang Kai-shek threatening to bring down Nationalist forces in China. Representing over a quarter of Nationalist forces, the Sichuan Army broke from Nationalist ranks via an alliance between faction leaders Yang Sen, Liu Wenhui, Deng Xihou, and Tian Songyao. All had grown tired and bitter over the three sided war devastating China and Chiang's handling of domestic affairs. With the United States suffering through a war on two fronts, the British retreating from India, and all hope of supply gone, the Sichuan Clique had finally had enough. There had been grumbling over the decline in their independence under Chiang and rumors that the Nationalist leader had poisoned one of their own, Liu Xiang, in order to exert greater control over Sichuan Province.

Chiang Kai-shek finds himself in a desperate battle to hold onto Sichuan. There are fears that if he allows one ally to desert him, others will follow.

Wang Jingwei has already voiced his support for Sichuan Province to join his Provisional Government and to oust the rebellious Chiang. Japanese, Mengjiang, and Provisional Chinese forces have begun an assault south through eastern Gansu into Sichuan in what many believe to be the final showdown between Japanese and Chinese forces. Should Sichuan fall, Chiang's capital, Chengdu, would fall with it and possibly spell the end of organized Kuomintang resistance.

SOURCE: The Daily Telegraph