At a memorial service in 1987, hundreds of generals and leaders came to mourn Zhang Weihan, and this sudden scene surprised people. However, when people learned about his life and deeds, they all felt remorse for the previous disrespectful words and paid tribute to the colonel. Zhang Weihan's life experience is rich and bumpy, and it is breathtaking.
So, what kind of contribution made so many important people admire him?First of all, Zhang Weihan was born in 1906 into a large landowner family in Guantao County, Shandong Province (now Guantao, Hebei). However, the Zhang family was not always wealthy, and at first it was just a poor family.
The poverty of the Zhang family caused Zhang Weihan's second brother Zhang Weixi to join the army when Feng Yuxiang recruited troops in order to provide food and clothing. Zhang Weixi's outstanding performance in the army aroused Feng Yuxiang's appreciation, and his status gradually climbed, and finally became a commander-level figure. This made the Zhang family from a poor family to a prominent family in Guantao County.
At the age of nine, Zhang Weihan was able to attend the Military Children's School founded by Feng Yuxiang in Beijing, but he had a different idea. In Beijing, the hotbed of the New Culture Movement, the school's principal, a progressive patriot, encouraged students to be exposed to new ideas and supported their participation in demonstrations. In such an environment, Zhang Weihan got acquainted with Peng Xuefeng.
The two were like-minded, and Peng Xuefeng not only led Zhang Weihan to participate in demonstrations, but also introduced him to the idea of communism. Deeply touched by the idea that communism is for the people, Zhang Weihan disapproved of the sordid deeds of the warlords, and after graduation, he wanted to pursue his own career, but was assigned to work in the corrupt and filthy Henan Provincial Civil Affairs Department.
Because of his determination to expose his ** boss, he was shielded and blamed, and finally resigned. After being sent by his brother to his friend Fan Zhuxian's army, he completely embarked on the opposite path from his brother. In Fan Zhuxian's army, he deeply respected the honest and loving county magistrate, and joined the ranks of resisting Japan and saving the country. When the Japanese army attacked North China, Fan Zhuxian organized local forces to call on the whole society to resist Japan, which was deeply admired by Zhang Weihan.
In 1937, Zhang Weihan received an unexpected invitation letter from Peng Xuefeng, whom he had not seen for many years, and immediately went to Beijing for a meeting. After the meeting, after learning that Peng Xuefeng had devoted himself to the cause of the Communist Party and the Red Army for many years, he expressed his deep admiration. After listening to his revolutionary experience, Zhang Weihan joined the Communist Party with great enthusiasm and became a proletarian revolutionary fighter.
During the anti-Japanese struggle in 1937, Fan Zhuxian carried out the reorganization of the army, thus formally establishing the Shandong Sixth District Guerrilla Command. Although the headquarters is not directly managed by the Communist Party, its senior cadres are all Communists, including Zhang Weihan, Wang Youping, and Zhang Lin, who are the head of the Political Department and the deputy ministers, respectively.
The participation of these Communist Party members enabled our Party's activities in Shandong to move from underground to aboveground, and actively promoted the development of the anti-Japanese struggle. In 1938, Fan Zhuxian led the army to fight to the death against the Japanese army, but in the end he was defeated by the enemy, and after being captured, he surrendered without hesitation.
After Fan Zhuxian's death, Zhang Weihan led the remaining eight regiments to join Chen Geng's troops, and this disciplined elite army with 10,000 troops was then merged into the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, which greatly improved the combat effectiveness of the Eighth Route Army. Subsequently, Zhang Weihan ushered in Wang Jinshan, he is a little-known figure, but when it comes to Li Yunlong in "Bright Sword", I am afraid more people will know about it.
That's right, Wang Jinshan is the prototype of Li Yunlong. Wang Jinshan was awarded the rank of lieutenant general in the 1955 all-army award, but as his superior, Zhang Weihan was only awarded the rank of colonel. What is the reason for this?After the liberation, Zhang Weihan made important contributions to national construction.
He fought valiantly in the anti-Japanese cause, but in 1943 he was seriously wounded in the battle and had to leave the front line to go to Yan'an to receive **. Although he cared for his comrades on the front line after recovering from his injury, Zhang Weihan couldn't wait to return to the front line of resistance against Japan two years later, and fought side by side with his comrades against the Japanese invaders.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War in 1945, I thought I could breathe a sigh of relief, but Chiang Kai-shek launched the civil war again, and the war of liberation began. During the War of Liberation, due to physical reasons and rich experience in political construction, Zhang Weihan did not often go to the front, but served as the commander of the Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, and Henan regions in the rear.
Zhang Weihan not only commanded the troops to fight, but was also responsible for the social order and the construction of the revolutionary base areas in the areas under his jurisdiction, and played a vital role in the political construction of the liberated areas. He often felt that he was insignificant in this vast Chinese territory, so he was willing to contribute his strength to the revolutionary cause. He once said, "I'm like a brick, I'm there when I need it."
This is not only his rhetoric, but also his actual actions. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he was appointed as the Minister of Sports, and he was conscientious in this responsibility, even if he was not familiar with sports work, he would work hard to learn Xi. Thanks to his unremitting efforts, China's sports industry has finally developed from being ignored to moving towards the international Olympic arena.
In 1955, at the all-army award ceremony, Zhang Weihan was awarded the rank of colonel. Although many believed that Zhang Weihan deserved a higher rank given his merits, Zhang Weihan himself was deeply satisfied with this result. After all, most of his exploits were achieved during the Sino-Japanese War, and during the War of Liberation he did not work at the front, but was mainly responsible for rear construction.
In addition, his complicated family background, the status of a large landowner, and his brother's status as a warlord all became obstacles to his rank. However, Zhang Weihan does not care about these external factors, and has always dedicated himself to the country and the people without regrets. In the end, in 1979, Zhang Weihan died of illness in Beijing, and a great soul dedicated to the revolutionary cause fell.
At his memorial service, hundreds of national leaders and generals burst into tears over his departure. Zhang Weihan's life was bumpy, but he was concerned about justice and revolution. Although he was not awarded the rank of general, in the hearts of the people, he was definitely a well-deserved heroic general!