In the long history of military history, many generals have been able to become famous for many times, mostly because of their victories in one or two or more battles, thus leaving a glorious page.
However, there are no exceptions to this, just like Zhao Kuo. The reason why he is well known to future generations is not because of any victories, but because of his crushing defeat in the Battle of Changping.
Such outliers have also emerged in modern history, among which the Kuomintang general Zhang Huizan is a typical example. His fame was not based on brilliant achievements, but on his experience of being captured by the Red Army.
As a Kuomintang general, Zhang Huizan did not have outstanding military exploits. However, because after being captured by ***, his name was engraved in ***'s poems. **With the sentence "Wanmu frost is red, and the heavenly soldiers are angry." The fog was full of Longgang Thousand Peaks and dark, calling in unison, and Zhang Hui was caught in front. Remembering him made him a "famous general". So, what about this "famous general" who was captured by the Red Army?
Zhang Huizan was born in Changsha, Hunan Province in 1885 and can be said to be a fellow villager. However, compared to the ordinariness of the *** family, he was born into a wealthy landowner family.
Due to his privileged family, he was able to receive a good education, and later was admitted to the Military Martial Arts School, and then went to study at the Japanese Non-commissioned Officer School, becoming one of the few returned students in that era.
After returning to China, he openly opposed the rule of the Beiyang warlords and was therefore wanted by Yuan Shikai. In the first tide of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, he joined the army that crusaded against the Beiyang warlords, became the commander of the Fourth Division of the Second Army of the National Revolutionary Army, and emerged as a military general who controlled heavy troops.
Although he participated in the actions of the Northern Expeditionary Army, he was ideologically inconsistent with Sun Yat-sen's ideas, openly opposed the Three People's Principles, expressed strong antipathy to the October Revolution and other ideas, and even hated it to the core.
After the April 12 Incident, he changed his identity and became Chiang Kai-shek's right-hand man, personally commanding the army and secret services, and arresting comrades on a large scale, and thousands of comrades died at his hands.
Despite his merits in these areas, his character was too impulsive and did not act cautiously, so he was not popular with many of his colleagues. Chiang Kai-shek, however, saw him as useful, at least when most people were afraid to come forward, and he was able to be a pioneer of risk-taking. Therefore, in the first large-scale military operation against the Red Army, Zhang Huizan was appointed commander-in-chief of the suppression of bandits in Jiangxi Province, leading 100,000 troops to attack the Soviet area.
At the end of 1930, the Kuomintang army began to attack the Soviet zone. Although the Soviet zone at that time had already established infrastructure such as military defense lines, schools and hospitals, its strength was still relatively weak and lacked the best equipment. In the face of a formidable enemy, the Red Army adopted mobile and flexible tactics, did not fight hard, and strategically abandoned a number of areas. After achieving some victories, Zhang Huizan paid no attention to the Red Army and the residents of the Soviet area, and arrested and killed a large number of comrades and innocent people. Thus, at the mention of his name, the Red Army and the inhabitants of the Soviet districts were filled with resentment, especially in the Donggu region, because his orders led to the murder of people within a radius of forty miles.
He won consecutive victories, became more and more unsightly, and began to go deeper. **and** decided to seize the opportunity to carry out a war of encirclement and annihilation against the 9,000 vanguard troops under his personal command.
In the area of Xiaobie Village, the Red Army completed the encirclement, and the battle immediately began. Due to the limited number of his troops and their unfamiliarity with the terrain, his previous successive victories also made his troops arrogant, unable to withstand the blows of the enemy army, and were quickly crushed. He fled alone to the mountains, hiding in a dirt cave. However, the Reds soon discovered him and captured him.
Jiangxi Provincial Chairman Lu Diping was greatly annoyed when he heard the news of Zhang Huizan's capture, and could only order the troops to retreat. The Red Army won the victory in this first anti-encirclement battle, not only capturing the "general", but also capturing a large number of ** and ammunition.
Chiang Kai-shek was very anxious when he heard the news and proposed a plan to exchange prisoners. In addition to the substitution, another 200,000 yuan ransom can be paid. The reason why Chiang Kai-shek did this was not because he took a fancy to Zhang Huizan himself, but because he was worried that the killing of this person would affect the morale of the army. After all, he was the first commander of the army to attack the Soviet area, and once he was killed, he would undoubtedly make others daunted and dare not lead the troops to attack again.
As for the conditions put forward by Chiang Kai-shek, ** and other important cadres repeatedly discussed, and two different opinions appeared in the base area. One faction believed that the Soviet region was facing economic difficulties at that time, and that if this "famous general" could be exchanged for a large amount of cash and captured comrades, it might be more valuable, and it would also reflect the Red Army's consistent policy of giving preferential treatment to prisoners. The other faction believed that the first enemy general to lead a large army to attack the Soviet zone would be boosted if he could be shot.
Amid the general appeal of the general public, the Red Army finally decided to hold a public trial of Zhang Huizan on January 28, 1931. On that day, tens of thousands of people flocked to the scene, and in order to avoid chaos, thousands of Red Army troops maintained order at the site. Seeing that he was about to be executed, Zhang Huizan begged for mercy many times, and even shouted "Runzhi, save me" to the villagers at the scene, fantasizing that he would let him go because of his hometown. However, ** apparently did not take sides on this issue, and in the end he was executed.
In fact, from the moment he flaunted his might and oppressed the people in the base area, his fate was doomed to such an end. In the special style of military history, Zhang Huizan left an unusual chapter with his fate of being captured.