Biography in English

Chu P'ei-te (29 October 1888-17 February 1937), Nationalist military officer. He was commander of the Third Army during the Northern Expedition in 1926-27 and governor of Kiangsi in 1927-29. Later, he served as chief of general staff, director general of military training, and director of the administrative office of the Military Affairs Commission. Yenhsing hsien, Yunnan, was the birthplace of Chu P'ei-te. When he was five sui, his paternal grandmother took him to Anning to enter school. His father died when Chu was only seven sui, and the boy was raised by his grandmother.

He enrolled in an army battalion military school at Kunming at the age of 18 sui. When the Yunnan Military Academy was established in 1910, it incorporated the battalion school. At the Yunnan Military Academy, Chu was influenced by anti-Manchu periodicals and by the military precepts expressed by Ts'aiO (q.v.), who became an instructor there in the spring of 1911. In October 1911, Ts'ai O led his 37th Brigade in a successful revolt against Manchu authority in Yunnan. Chu P'ei-te at once left the academy to become a staff officer in the revolutionary forces. He served in the T'engch'ung area and later commanded a unit stationed at Tali in western Yunnan. After a few months, Chu returned to the Yunnan Military Academy; he was graduated at the top of his class in 1914.

He then was assigned to the newly organized 3rd Infantry Regiment in Yunnan, and he served successively as company and battalion commander in operations designed to pacify Miao tribesmen in the area. He lost many of his men to malaria and nearly succumbed to the fever himself. In the winter of 1915 T'ang Chi-yao (q.v.), the Yunnan military governor, and Ts'ai O organized a so-called National Protection Army (Hu-kuo chun) to oppose the plan of Yuan Shih-k'ai to make himself monarch at Peking. Chu P'ei-te at once joined the Second Army, commanded by his former instructor at the Yunnan Military Academy Li Lieh-chün (q.v.), and received command of a column. During the early months of 1916, while the Second Army was marching through Kwangsi, Chu P'ei-te was promoted to command its 25th Regiment. After the death of Yuan Shih-k'ai in the summer of 1916, Li Lieh-chün was forced to resign his command. His forces were renamed the Yunnan Army in Kwangtung, and Chu P'ei-te was assigned to command its 7th Mixed Brigade.

Sun Yat-sen was then making a new attempt to consolidate power in south China, and Chu P'ei-te took part in that effort. He won recognition for his action in southern Kwangtung in 1917, was promoted to command the 4th Division of the Yunnan Army in Kwangtung, and was designated garrison commander at Canton. In the spring of 1918, control of the Yunnan Army in Kwangtung passed into the hands of Li Ken-yuan (q.v.), a Yunnan man who had played a prominent role in that province at the time of the 1911 revolution. Although Sun Yat-sen lost power at Canton in 1918 and left for Shanghai, Chu P'ei-te remained on duty at Canton, where the local authorities attempted to gain control over the Yunnan Army in Kwangtung. In the winter of 1919 Chu P'ei-te married Chao Hui-chun, the younger sister of the wife of the prominent military strategist Yang Chieh (q.v.). Many prominent people attended the wedding. Chu had been approached with the proposal that Li Ken-yuan and his lieutenants be seized at the wedding celebration and removed from power, but he had rejected the idea.

In February 1920, T'ang Chi-yao in Yunnan issued orders removing Li Ken-yuan from command of his troops in Kwangtung. T'ang himself planned to exercise direct authority: and Li Lieh-chun, then a staff officer at Canton, was to serve as T'ang's deputy. Li Ken-yuan resisted the order, however, and removed the partisans of Li Lieh-chun, including Chu P'ei-te, from their posts. Chu took his family to Hong Kong and then participated in the March 1920 attempt of Li Lieh-chun to wrest power from Li Ken-yuan. The attempt failed, and Chu P'ei-te, having lost contact with Li Lieh-chun, retreated with his 4th Division into southern Hunan.

In June 1920 Chu collaborated with T'an Yen-k'ai (q.v.) to overthrow Chang Ching-yao, a Peiyang general of the Chihli faction. Then, on orders from T'ang Chi-yao, Chu marched to Szechwan, where fighting between Yunnan and Szechwan forces was in progress. He arrived in Chungking in October 1920. By that time, however, the Yunnan forces had been defeated at Suifu and Luhsien; Li Lieh-chun, who had entered the engagement with reinforcements, had been driven back into Kweichow; and Chungking had been surrounded. Chu P'ei-te resigned his command and went to Shanghai. Chu's services were still needed for the wars in south China. Sun Yat-sen invited him to return to Canton and participate in a campaign against Kwangsi ; T'ang Chi-yao wanted him to return to Yunnan; and Li Lieh-chun also sought his help. Chu went to Kweichow to join Li Liehchun. Sun Yat-sen, after assuming the position of provisional president at Canton in May 1921, made plans to destroy Lu Jung-t'ing's power in Kwangsi province as a preparatory step toward undertaking the northern expedition. Chu P'ei-te, Ku Cheng-lun (q.v.), and Yang Yich'ien, commanding Yunnan and Kweichow troops, and in collaboration with a Cantonese force led by Hsu Ch'ung-chih (q.v.) captured Kweilin in August and thus brought the campaign to a triumphant end.

T'ang Chi-yao, who had lost power in Yunnan in February 1921, now ordered the Yunnan forces in Kwangsi (commanded by Yang Yich'ien) to drive back to their home province. The order was refused, and Sun Yat-sen appointed Chu P'ei-te commander of the Yunnan forces. In the ensuing clash of interests, Chu offered the Yunnanese troops that had entered Kwangsi from Szechwan the option of returning to Yunnan or serving with him. He reorganized those who remained with him into three mixed brigades and devoted himself to the service of the Nationalist cause.

Sun Yat-sen then proposed a military expedition from Kwangsi into Hunan. Ch'en Chiungming opposed the plan, but Sun established his headquarters at Kweilin and set about the undertaking. However, because of the continuing opposition of Ch'en Chiung-ming, the attack upon Hunan, scheduled for the spring of 1922, was never made at all. The expeditionary army, including Chu P'ei-te's forces, followed Sun back to Kwangtung in April 1922 and proceeded to Shaokuan for a projected advance into Kiangsi province. That expedition was launched in mid-May, and Chu P'ei-te's army participated in the capture of Kanchow in southern Kiangsi on 13 June 1922.

In the meantime, Sun Yat-sen had returned to Canton to deal with the political threat created there by Ch'en Chiung-ming's opposition. On 16 June Ch'en staged a coup at Canton, and Sun Yat-sen summoned his military forces to recapture the city. That force was defeated by Ch'en's troops at Shaokuan and was split into two groups. The group commanded by Hsu Ch'ung-chih and Li Fu-lin retreated to the Fukien border; the second group, led by Chu P'ei-te, made a forced retreat into southern Hunan and then to Kwangsi. Chu took up a new position at Kweilin.

In January 1923 Ch'en Chiung-ming was driven out of Canton. When Sun Yat-sen returned there in February, he ordered Chu P'ei-te and his troops to Canton. Chu's force was reorganized into a guard unit at Sun's headquarters. Chu was made acting minister of war in the Canton regime, as well as guards commander and headquarters adjutant general. In October 1923 Chu's force participated in the defense of Canton against a new drive by Ch'en Chiung-ming. Ch'en's forces at first were victorious, and the Canton forces retreated toward Sheklung. Chu P'ei-te escaped by crossing a river hanging to the tail of his swimming horse. He rallied some of his fleeing troops, established a new defensive position, and eventually staged a flank attack on Ch'en's forces and routed them. Chu P'ei-te's military actions played an important role in defending the Canton base, and his personal prestige rose accordingly. When Canton's military establishment was reorganized in 1924, he was given command of the First Army of the National Construction Army (Chien-kuo-chun).

At the time of the organization of the National Government at Canton in July 1925, Chu P'ei-te became a member of the Government Council and quartermaster general. He served as the officer in charge of rear-area security during the second eastern expedition in late 1925, which finally broke Ch'en Chiung-ming's power and consolidated Nationalist control over Kwangtung province. At the Second National Congress of the Kuomintang, held in January 1926, Chu P'ei-te was elected a member of both the Central Executive Committee and the Central Political Council. He remained a member of the Central Executive Committee until his death. When the Northern Expedition began in the summer of 1926, Chu P'ei-te was assigned to command the Third Army of the National Revolutionary Army. His Yunnanese troops went into action in September in Kiangsi province, which was then under the control of Sun Ch'uan-fang (q.v.).

The Nationalists won control of Kiangsi province only after heavy fighting. Chu P'ei-te, commanding the right wing of the attacking forces, participated in the operation against Nanchang, the provincial capital. When that city was taken in November 1926, he was assigned to garrison the area, and he became a member of the political council established at Nanchang to govern the province. Chu P'ei-te's position thus came to be of key importance in the sharp struggle that developed in the Yangtze valley during 1927 between the right and left wings of the Kuomintang. Chiang Kai-shek, commander in chief of the National Revolutionary Army, established his military headquarters at Nanchang. In the countryside, the Communists, then formally allied with the Kuomintang, worked actively during the winter of 1926 to extend their political influence among the Kiangsi peasants. In January 1927 Chu P'ei-te, as commander of the Third Army at Nanchang, received a visit from Chu Teh (q.v.), who had been senior to him at the Yunnan Military Academy and during his early career as a junior officer in southwest China. Chu P'ei-te accepted Chu Teh's offer of service, adopted his proposal to establish an officers training regiment, and appointed him to command the new unit. The training of some 1,000 cadets in the program began at the end of January, and by March 1927 graduates of the training regiment were being assigned to work among the Kiangsi peasants.

The Wuhan regime appointed Chu P'ei-te to succeed Li Lieh-chün as governor of Kiangsi, and Chu formally assumed that position on 5 April 1927. On the same day he appointed Chu Teh director of the public security bureau at Nanchang. The breach between Chiang Kaishek and the Wuhan authorities came shortly afterward, and Chiang Kai-shek set up an opposition government at Nanking on 18 April. Wang Ching-wei (q.v.), who had recently returned from Europe, went to Wuhan. Because of his personal acquaintance with Wang, Chu P'ei-te continued to take his orders from Wuhan. Li Tsung-jen (q.v.), commanding the Nationalist Seventh Army in Anhwei, had planned to move into Kiangsi province. However, Chu P'ei-te had temporarily commanded Li Tsungjen's men in 1921-22 and was thus regarded as Li's superior. In accordance with the conventional Chinese rules of courtesy, Li requested a meeting with Chu. The two generals met at Hukow on 14-15 May 1927, and a temporary agreement was reached whereby Kiangsi for the time being was declared neutral territory. After the break between Chiang Kai-shek and the Wuhan authorities, relations between the Kuomintang members and the Communists within the Wuhan government became strained. In May, Chu P'ei-te began to take action against the Communists in Kiangsi province. Early in June he imposed martial law, disarmed labor unions and peasant associations, ordered them to suspend activities, and arrested and deported leading political workers. He still supported the Kuomintang authorities at Wuhan, however; in July, he joined with Chang Fa-k'uei and Ch'eng Ch'ien (qq.v.) to begin preparations in the Kiukiang area for a drive against Nanking. The Communists had their own plans for independent action, however, and acted first in staging the Nanchang uprising of 1 August 1927. Forces led by Ho Lung and Yeh T'ing (qq.v.), with the help of Chu Teh's men, surrounded and disarmed two regiments that Chu P'ei-te had left behind and occupied the city. The Communists' victory was short-lived; they were forced to evacuate Nanchang within a few days. Since Chu P'ei-te had stationed troops at key points on the main road to the south through Kiangsi, the Communists had to proceed through the mountainous eastern portion of the province. Chu P'ei-te moved elements of his Third Army to intercept Chu Teh's force in the Tayü area, and struck them hard. Ho Lung and Yeh T'ing went on to take Swatow and to threaten Canton, but their strength had been substantially reduced. Chu P'ei-te played an important role in the complex negotiations during late 1927 that eventually brought a measure of peace to the warring factions within the Kuomintang. Chu P'ei-te continued to serve as governor of Kiangsi. Chiang Kai-shek made plans for continuing the Northern Expedition to overthrow the Peking regime, and, in March, the expeditionary forces were reorganized into group armies to accommodate the addition to the Nationalist armies of new units, notably those of Feng Yü-hsiang and Yen Hsi-shan. Chu P'ei-te was named commander of the general reserve forces. After the May 1928 clash with the Japanese at Tsinan and Chiang Kai-shek's subsequent return to Nanking, Chu P'ei-te was named field commander of the First Group Army. That force, after skirting Tsinan, took Techow in northern Shantung during the final Nationalist drive on Peking. In the meantime, the remnant Communist forces, under the command of Chu Teh and Mao Tse-tung, had assembled at Chingkang Mountain in western Kiangsi. On 9 November 1928 the National Government at Nanking assigned Chu P'ei-te to command anti-Communist operations in Kiangsi and Hunan. He held that position for only a few weeks, however, and on 1 January 1929 Nanking transferred the command to Ho Chien (q.v.). At the Third National Congress of the Kuomintang, held in March 1929, Chu P'ei-te was reelected to membership on the Central _Executive Committee and was made a member of its standing committee. However, because most of his allies within the Kuomintang were the veteran Kwangtung leaders, notably Wang Ching-wei and Hu Han-min, and the Kwangsi military men Li Tsung-jen and Pai Ch'ung-hsi, Chu's power, and influence decreased steadily as Chiang Kai-shek began to consolidate his position at Nanking. The so-called Whampoa clique, along with officers from Chekiang, became the dominant military group. In August 1929 Chu P'ei-te resigned his post as governor of Kiangsi. In September, he was named chief of general staff at Nanking. From 1929 to 1931 he was a member of the State Council. Like T'an Yen-k'ai (q.v.), Chu P'ei-te was known for his attempts to mediate clashes between prominent Kuomintang leaders, notably Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Ching-wei. However, Wang Ching-wei's participation in the so-called northern coalition of 1930 against Chiang Kai-shek further undermined Chu's personal position at Nanking. When the National Government reorganized its top military structure in March 1931, Chiang Kai-shek himself became chairman of the Military Affairs Commission and chief of general staff. Chu P'ei-te was assigned to the lesser position of director of the administrative office of the Military Affairs Commission.

In September 1931 the Japanese began their program of military conquest on the mainland with the occupation of Manchuria. In the governmental reorganization that took place at Nanking in December, Chu P'ei-te regained the post of chief of general staff after Chiang Kaishek retired from active duty. He held that office for only a short time; and Chiang Kaishek resumed it in March 1932 after he returned to power. Chu was reelected to both the Central Executive Committee and the Central Political Council of the Kuomintang in 1932.

In March 1933, when Ho Ying-ch'in (q.v.) was assigned to north China to take charge of the newly formed Peiping branch of the Military Affairs Commission, Chiang Kai-shek proposed to appoint Chu P'ei-te minister of war. Chu declined the post. Later in 1933, however, he assumed the office of director general of military training. When a further military reorganization took place in December 1934, Chu also was appointed acting chief of general staff. In that capacity he acted in place of Chiang Kai-shek at provincial military reviews and similar ceremonial occasions. Chu's principal responsibility continued to be the direction of the administrative office of the Military Affairs Commission, but he also served on the committees on military discipline and on the care of Sun Yat-sen's mausoleum at Nanking. In the autumn of 1936 he assisted in the political maneuvers between the authorities of the National Government, on the one hand, and Li Tsung-jen and Pai Ch'ung-hsi, on the other, that brought Kwangsi military power into alignment with Nanking and helped to bring a measure of unity to China to confront the external Japanese threat.

Five months before the actual outbreak of hostilities between China and Japan in 1937, however, Chu P'ei-te died suddenly at Nanking. His death resulted from blood poisoning after an injection of medicine which he had been using to combat anemia.

Chu was survived by his widow and by two sons, Chu Wei-liang and Chu Wei-hsin; they later moved to the United States.

Biography in Chinese

朱培德
字:益之
朱培德(1888.10.29—1937.2.17),国民革命军军官,1926—1927年北伐时任第三军军长,1927—1929年任江西省主席。后来,历任军事委员会的参谋总长、军训总监和办公厅主任。
朱培德出生于云南盐兴,五岁时,他祖母带他去安宁上学,七岁时他的父亲去世,就由他祖母抚养。
他十八岁时进昆明一所陆军营部武备学校,1910年云南武备学堂设立,将该军校合并。朱培德在武备学堂受到反满报刊和1911年春在那里当教官的蔡锷所进行的军事教育的影响。1911年10月,蔡锷率领他的三十七旅在云南举行反满起义成功,朱培德当即离开武备学堂,当了革命军军官,驻在腾冲地区,以后又统率驻在滇西大理的一支军队。几个月后,他又回到云南武备学堂,1914年毕业,学业成绩列为全班第一。
他在云南新编第三步兵团任职,他在平定该地区苗族动乱的战斗中担任过连长和营长,指挥战斗获胜,他的部属很多死于疟疾,他自己得以幸免。1915年冬云南督军唐继尧和蔡锷组成护国军,反对袁世凯在北京称帝的阴谋。朱培德立即投身第二军,担任队长,该军由他从前在武备学堂的教官李烈钧任军长。在1916年最初几个月中,第二军向广西进军时,朱培德升任二十五团团长。1916年夏袁世凯死后,李烈钧被解除司令职务,他的部队改称为驻粤滇军。朱培德担任第七混成旅旅长。
孙逸仙当时力求在南方巩固势力,朱培德亦参与其事。1917年他在广东南部的军事行动获得好评,因此升任驻滇粵军第四师师长,并任广州警备司令。1918年春,驻粤滇军的控制权落在李根源手中。李根源是云南人,他在1911年革命时,在云南起过显著作用。1918年孙逸仙在广州失势去上海,但朱培德仍留守广州,而广东地方当局准备袭取驻粤滇军的控制权。1919年冬,朱培德和著名的军事战略学家杨杰的妻妹赵慧君结婚,许多知名人士参加了他们的婚礼,有人向朱培德建议,趁李根源及其随从参加婚礼时,将他们拘捕,夺取他们的权力。朱培德拒绝了这个建议。
1920年2月,唐继尧在云南下令撤销李根源对驻粤滇军的指挥权,准备由他自己直接指挥,以在广州的参谋长李烈钧为他的代表。李根源本人拒绝此项命令,却将李烈钧的亲信朱培德等人免职。朱培德携眷去香港,1920年8月,参与李烈钧夺取李根源权力的活动,结果失败,朱培德和李烈钧失去了联系,率领第四师退到湘南。
1920年6月,朱培德和谭延闿合作,逐走直系北洋军人张敬尧。接着,唐继尧下令朱部,趁川滇两军在四川开战的时候进入四川。1920年10月,朱培德到达重庆。当时,滇军已在叙府、沪县战败,李烈钧与增援部队交战失利,退入贵州,重庆被围,朱培德辞去司令职务到了上海。
南方的战局仍需朱培德效力,孙逸仙邀他返回广州参加讨伐桂军之役;唐继尧则希望他回云南,而李烈钧也希望得到他的帮助。朱培德决定去贵州李烈钧那里。
1921年5月,孙逸仙在广州就任非常大总统后,为了着手北伐,准备先清除陆荣廷在广西的势力。朱培德、谷正伦、杨希闵分别率领滇军、黔军,并与许崇智率领的粤军合力,在8月占领了桂林,此役一举而获胜。
1921年2月,唐继尧在云南失势,下令在广西的滇军(由杨希闵指挥)回云南。唐的命令遭到拒绝,孙逸仙任命朱培德为滇军司令。接着发生了利害冲突,朱决定让由川入桂的滇军自行选择:或回云南、或随他一起。他将遗留部队重编为三个混成旅,决心为国民革命效力。
孙逸仙提议由广西向云南进军,陈炯明反对此举,但孙逸仙已在桂林建立司令部,准备按计划行动。因陈炯明接二连三的反对,1922年春准备进军湖南的计划未能实行。1922年4月,准备北伐的军队随孙逸仙返向广东,其中包括朱培德率领的部队,这些部队进驻韶关,准备向江西进军。5月中旬开始进军,朱培德部参加了1922年6月13日夺取江西南部的赣州的战斗。
当时,孙逸仙已回广州处理因陈炯明反对而引起的政局危机。6月16日,陈炯明在广州发动政变,孙逸仙召集部队拟夺回广州,但被陈炯明部在韶关击败,溃散成两部分:一部分由许崇智、李福林率领退到福建边境,一部分由朱培德率领强行退到湖南南部后,又回到广西,在桂林重新立足。
1923年1月,陈炯明被逐出广州,2月,孙逸仙又回到广州,下令朱培德率部回广州。朱部改组为孙逸仙大本营的警卫部队,朱任广州军政府陆军代部长、警备司令、大本营副官。1923年10月,朱部为守卫广州阻击陈炯明的新的进袭,起先,陈炯明取胜,广州军撤到石龙。朱培德本人拉着他的战马的尾巴泅过了河。他重集失散的部队,建立新的防御态势,然后向陈炯明部侧翼发起进攻,击溃陈部。朱培德的军事行动对保卫广州这个基地起了重要作用,他个人的声誉与之俱增。1924年广州的军事系统重组时,授予他建国军第一军军长之职。
1925年7月,广州国民政府成立,朱培德任政府会议委员和军需部长,又在1925年第二次东征时任后卫指挥,这次终于逐走了陈炯明,而巩固了国民革命军在广东的控制。在1926年1月召开的国民党第二次全国代表大会上,朱培德被选为中央执行委员会委员和中央政治会议委员。朱培德担任中央执委一直到他逝世。
1926军夏,北伐进军,朱培德任国民革命军第三军军长,9月,他率领滇军进入孙传芳控制下的江西省,经激烈战斗后,国民革命军夺取了江西省,朱培德指挥右翼军进攻江西省会南昌,1926年11月,攻占南昌,朱培德负责警备该地区,并当选为设在南昌的政治会议的委员,负责统管全省。
1927年国民党左派和右派间在长江流域一带日益尖锐的斗争中,朱培德处于关键的地位。国民革命军总司令蒋介石,在南昌设立其司令部。当时和国民党联合的共产党,在1926年冬天,在江西农民中扩大其政治影响。1927年1月,朱培德任第三军军长时,他在云南武备学堂的前辈、早期在云南当过下级军官的朱德来访问他。朱培德接受朱德的效力并采纳他的建议,设立军官教导团,由朱德领导。1月底开始训练约一千名干部,1927年3月,训练团的毕业生被派到江西农民中开展工作。
武汉政府任命朱培德继李烈钧任江西省主席,朱培德于1927年4月5日正式就任,同一天,他委朱德为南昌公安局长。不久,蒋介石和武汉政府分裂,4月18日在南京成立反对政府。刚从欧洲回国的汪精卫到了武汉,由于朱培德和汪精卫有私交,所以仍受武汉的领导。在安徽的国民革命军第七军军长李宗仁准备率部进入江西,朱培德在1921—1922年间,曾一度指挥过李宗仁的第七军的人员,因此朱被视为李的上司,按照中国的礼俗,李请朱会面磋商。这两个将军于1927年5月14日到15日,在湖口会面,达成临时约议,宣布江西暂定为中立地区。
蒋介石和武汉当局破裂后,武汉政府内国民党和共产党的关系趋于紧张。5月,朱培德在江西也采取行动对付共产党,6月初,他颁布戒严令,解散工会和农会,迫使他们停止活动,逮捕和驱逐主要的政治工作人员。但他仍支持武汉的国民党当局,7月,他和张发奎、程潜在九江准备向京进军。
共产党人则准备了自己的独立行动计划,1927年8月1日抢先行动,举行南昌起义。贺龙、叶挺统率部队,得到朱德部队的帮助,包围了朱培德不及带走的两个团,解除了武装并占领了南昌。但是共产党的胜利只是暂时的,几天之后被迫撤出南昌。朱培德在赣南主要通路上的要害地段设有重兵,共产党的军队只能从赣东的山区行进,而朱培德以其第三军的兵力在大庾岭地区拦阻朱德的部队,并加以重创。贺龙、叶挺转向夺取汕头以威胁广州,但是共产党部队的力量已大为削弱。
1927年末国民党内敌对派别终于达成和解,朱培德在这个复杂的谈判中起了重要作用。朱培德继续担任江西省主席。蒋介石拟定了继续北伐的计划,以推翻北京政府。国民革命军新增部队很多,例如有冯玉祥和阎锡山的军队,所以在3月间北伐军改编为集团军。朱培德任后备队总指挥。1928年5月和日军发生济南事件后,蒋介石随即回南京,任朱培德为第一集团军总指挥,该集团军绕过济南直取鲁北的德州,完成了北伐军最后向北京的进军。在此同时,共产党的余部由朱德、毛泽东领导,集结在赣西井冈山。1928年11月9日,南京国民政府命朱培德在赣湘一带剿共。1929年1月1日,南京方面将其指挥权移交给何键了。
在1929年3月召开的国民党第三次全国代表大会上,朱培德再次选入中央执行委员会并任常委。朱培德在国民党内的同盟者,主要是广东的国民党元老汪精卫、胡汉民和广西的军人李宗仁、白崇禧等人。所以当蒋介石着手巩固他在南京的地位时,朱培德的权势也就很快衰落。从此黄埔系与来自浙江的军官相结合,成为统治的军事集团。
1929年8月,朱培德辞去江西省政府主席职务,9月,任命他为参谋总长。1929—1931年间,他是政府会议的委员。众所周知,朱培德和谭延闿一样,力图调解著名的国民党领导人蒋介石和汪精卫之间的冲突。但是由于汪精卫参加了1930年的北方反蒋联盟,促使朱培德在南京的地位进一步降低。1931年8月,国民政府改组最高军事机构,蒋介石亲自任军事委员会委员长和参谋总长,朱培德降为军委办公厅主任的职务。
1931年9月,日军占领满洲后,准备征服全部大陆。12月,南京方面进行政府改组,蒋介石让出一些出头露面的职务,朱培德重任参谋总长。为时不久,1932年3月蒋介石又上台,朱培德交卸了他的职务,由蒋介石重新就任参谋总长。1932年朱培德仍被选为国民党中央执行委员和中央政治会议委员。
1933年3月,何应钦就任军事委员会北平分会主任去华北,蒋介石任朱培德为军政部长,朱培德未就职。1933年底,任军事训练总监。1934年12月军事机构再次改组,朱任代参谋总长,但那也不过是代表蒋介石出席省里举行的军事检阅,或其它类似的礼仪性的活动。他主要的职务还是领导军委办公厅,他还担任军纪委员会和南京中山陵管理委员会的工作。1936年秋,他在国民政府当局和李宗仁、白崇禧之间,作政治调停人,使桂系军事势力和南京方面合作,在外敌日军的威胁之下,促成了中国国内团结。
1937年中日战争爆发前五个月,朱培德在南京突然去世,因注射抗贫血药剂引起血液中毒致死。
他有遗妻和两个儿子,朱维梁和朱维新,他们后来都到美国去了。

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