Zhang Lingfu is one of Chiang Kai-shek's favorite generals, after the defeat of the battle of Meng Lianggu and the death of Zhang Lingfu, Chiang Kai-shek was furious, and he wanted to kill and severely punish the guilty and guilty.
Four people have become the target of public criticism, they are Gu Zhutong, director of the Zhengzhou Command Post of the Ministry of National Defense, Tang Enbo, commander of the First Corps, Huang Baitao, commander of the 25th Division, and Li Tianxia, commander of the 83rd Division.
These four people have to bear the responsibility of strategy, campaign, and tactical coordination.
However, after the "thunder rolling", there were not a few drops of rain falling from the sky, and these four people actually passed the test safely and unharmed.
Zhang Lingfu. Chiang Kai-shek's disposition of them can all be boiled down to four words - an understatement.
People can't help but ask, whether Gu Zhutong and them should be held responsible for Zhang Lingfu's death?
In the end, they were able to successfully "turn the tables" and turn the crisis into safety, what kind of means did they rely on?
Let's start with their responsibilities.
Chiang Kai-shek believed that Gu Zhutong, as the commander-in-chief of the Kuomintang Army, was absolutely problematic in the battle of Menglianggu, and he was also at fault in the strategy of using troops, which led to the defeat of Menglianggu.
Therefore, Gu Zhutong is to blame at the strategic level.
Speaking of Tang Enbo, who was Zhang Lingfu's immediate boss, at the campaign level, Chiang Kai-shek believed that Tang Enbo was guilty of at least two major faults - poor command and poor support.
Chiang Kai-shek summoned Tang Enbo back to Nanjing, and he wanted to ask him face to face.
Tang Enbo was familiar with Lao Jiang's habits, and delayed for a month before he went to Nanjing.
It is said that after seeing Tang Enbo, Chiang Kai-shek scolded him angrily, and even ordered Tang Enbo to kneel, and even picked up his crutches, beating Tang Enbo's head full of blood.
In the end, it was Gu Zhu and others who persuaded him, and Chiang Kai-shek gave up and let Tang Enbo "get out".
It can be seen from this that Meng Lianggu's defeat and Zhang Lingfu's death did make Lao Jiang feel painful.
Huang Baitao, commander of the 25th Division, directly participated in the rescue of Zhang Lingfu, but it failed.
His official rank is not as good as Gu Zhutong and Tang Enbo, and he is not a descendant of Huangpu, according to convention, Huang Baitao seems to be in a catastrophe.
However, at the military review meeting held by the "Nanjing Ministry of National Defense," Huang Baitao's statement made the situation "turn around," and Gu Zhutong and Tang Enbo took the opportunity to successfully "turn the tables."
Old**. In fact, Huang Baitao's statements were carefully prepared under Gu Zhutong's behind-the-scenes arrangements and Tang Enbo's "careful guidance".
At the "review meeting", Huang Baitao unexpectedly took the initiative to take responsibility, Meng Lianggu's defeat and Zhang Lingfu's death in battle are a fait accompli, and the responsibility for the ineffective rescue cannot be denied.
However, Huang Baitao insisted that he "has done his best to reinforce more than 10,000 people".
In fact, Huang Baitao did help to rescue Zhang Lingfu, among the several ** reinforcements, only Huang Baitao's department fought the most fiercely, and there were the most casualties.
Huang Baitao repeatedly stressed: Zhang Lingfu made his own decisions and completely disobeyed the orders of his superiors, which was really arrogant and self-serving, and this was the main reason for the annihilation of the 74th Division.
In short, the command post, the corps did not have any responsibility.
Subsequently, Gu Zhutong, Tang Enbo and others struck while the iron was hot and spoke one after another, denouncing Zhang Lingfu for being unruly, not obeying commands, and advancing alone, which not only disrupted the operational deployment of the entire "Lunan Battle" but also buried the reorganized 74th Division.
As a result, the original "review meeting" became a "denunciation meeting", and the spearhead was focused on Zhang Lingfu.
This is the plan of Gu Zhutong and Tang Enbo carefully planned to "gamble with death".
In the end, the stick raised by Lao Jiang fell gently, Gu Zhutong was dismissed from the post of commander-in-chief of the army, Tang Enbo was given the punishment of "dismissal and retention", and Huang Baitao passed the test smoothly and only received a "demerit" punishment.
Huang Baitao's "righteous act" of "standing up" not only saved himself, but also helped Gu Zhutong and Tang Enbo pass the test smoothly.
Therefore, Gu Zhutong trusted Huang Baitao even more, and when the Seventh Corps was formed in 1948, Huang Baitao easily became the commander of the Corps.
Zhang Lingfu died.
However, Huang Baitao's good days of "prosperous official luck" soon came to an end, and in the Huaihai Campaign, Huang Baitao was surrounded by the East China Field Corps, and finally died in defeat at the age of 48.
So, what is the situation of Li Tianxia, commander of the 83rd Division?
On May 17, 1947, the 74th Division was completely destroyed, and at that time, Li Tianxia's situation was more "dangerous" than the other three.
As soon as Meng Lianggu's gunfire fell, Lao Jiang's "life-seeking telegram" was sent to Xuzhou: "Li Tianxia will be shot on the spot"!
Li Tianxia is known as "Huangpu Old Fritters", and many people think that this time is "more than auspicious" and it is difficult to escape death.
It is rumored that Li Tianxia and Zhang Lingfu have never been on good terms, and Li Tianxia did not contribute to the rescue of Zhang Lingfu this time, let alone "do her best".
In fact, it is no wonder that Li Tianxia's troops were close at hand at that time, and they were the most qualified troops to rescue Zhang Lingfu.
Therefore, some people say that Li Tianxia is a "communiqué personal vendetta", and if she sees death, she will not be saved, Li Tianxia wants to explain and argue, but no one believes his words.
So, what grievances and grievances do Li Tianxia and Zhang Lingfu have?
This matter is all related to the 74th Army and Wang Yaowu.
On February 25, 1944, Wang Yaowu, commander of the 74th Army, was promoted to commander-in-chief of the 24th Group Army.
Li Tianxia also thought so, he had returned to Shaoyang, Hunan from Zunyi, and was ready to take over the 74th Army.
Li Tianxia and Wang Yaowu are both graduates of the third phase of Huangpu, and in terms of seniority, Li Tianxia should be the "old man" of the 74th Army, with old qualifications and high seniority.
When Wang Yaowu served as the commander of the 1st Supplementary Brigade, Li Tianxia was the colonel of the 3rd Regiment of the 1st Supplementary Brigade, and the 1st Brigade was expanded into the 51st Division, and Li Tianxia was the deputy commander of the division's major general.
When the 51st Division and the 58th Division merged to form the 74th Army, Li Tianxia was the deputy commander of the 51st Division Major General and the commander of the 153rd Brigade, and Zhang Lingfu and Qiu Weida were only the regiment commanders under him.
Meng Lianggu. Therefore, it can be said that Li Tianxia was indeed the No. 2 person in the early days of Wang Yaowu's military group.
In June 1939, Wang Yaowu was promoted to commander of the 74th Army, and Li Tianxia was naturally promoted to commander of the 51st Division, and later promoted to lieutenant general and deputy commander of the 74th Army.
However, when Wang Yaowu left the 74th Army, he suddenly handed over the "handover of the position" of the army commander to Shi Zhongcheng, the commander of the 100th Army.
Behind Wang Yaowu's dazzling movements, two pieces of information are clearly revealed:
Wang Yaowu was obviously cultivating Zhang Lingfu, and Zhang Lingfu was only a division commander at the time, and his qualifications to take over as army commander were not enough, so he had to "boil" another process;
Although Li Tianxia was promoted to the commander of the 100th Army, he was kicked out of the 74th Army system, and since then, Zhang Lingfu has no obstacles in front of him.
Regarding Wang Yaowu's arrangement, Li Tianxia had bitterness in her heart but couldn't say it, and Wang Yaowu was "like the sky", and Li Tianxia couldn't help him.
As a result, Li Tianxia had to vent his grievances on his old subordinate and competitor Zhang Lingfu.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the 100th Army was restructured into the 83rd Division, and Li Tianxia became the commander of the lieutenant general.
When Zhang Lingfu was in a deep crisis, Li Tianxia may have just wanted to frustrate his spirit at first, and there was no lack of meaning to see Zhang Lingfu's jokes.
It's just that he didn't expect two things: one is that Zhang Lingfu was completely annihilated, and the other is that Lao Jiang is really anxious and wants to move seriously.
Allegedly, it was his subordinate Luo Wenlang who "saved" his life.
At that time, in order to cope with and make a difference, Li Tianxia sent Luo Wenlang's 57th Regiment to assist Zhang Lingfu in retreating.
Luo Wenlang is an understanding person, he knows that if he retreats at this time, if the battle fails, he will carry all the black cauldron for Li Tianxia.
Therefore, Luo Wenlang gritted his teeth and simply entered the encirclement of the People's Liberation Army, and was finally annihilated together with the 74th Division.
Old**. This fact later became a powerful evidence for Li Tianxia's exculpation.
In addition, Li Tianxia has always been good at using resources, Qian Dajun gave a lot of help in secret, plus there were gold bars to open the way, and Gu Zhutong and Tang Enbo were covered, so Li Tianxia was released on bail as soon as she arrived in Nanjing.
Li Tianxia was finally removed from his post and investigated, he not only saved his life, but with the success of Gu Zhutong, Tang Enbo, and Huang Baitao's "turnaround", Li Tianxia also won the third-class Yunlu Medal.
In September 1949, Li Tianxia was transferred to the commander of the defense of Pingtan in Fujian Province and the commander of the rebuilt 73rd Army, but under the blow of the Sanye Tenth Corps, Li Tianxia was defeated again and was sent to a military court.
And Gu Zhutong was able to "make a comeback" soon after being demoted, and once again served as the chief of staff of the Ministry of National Defense.
Within two months, Tang Enbo was actually promoted to the post of commander-in-chief of the army, and the results were stunned once they were announced.
Stills from the movie "Red Sun".
The defeat in the Battle of Menglianggu exposed the chaos in the Kuomintang army.
There is no doubt that they will fail in the end.