During the War of Liberation, the People's Liberation Army defeated the Kuomintang's million-strong division with a thunderbolt, bringing the Chiang dynasty to its end.
In the process, the PLA captured a large number of Kuomintang officers, including many high-ranking generals, and surprisingly, all of them received admission notices from the "Gongdelin Military Command College" without exception.
The reason for this expression is that this prison is full of famous heroes and generals in the Kuomintang, and they gradually "graduated" and left here in the following ten years.
At that time, Li Xianzhou was also imprisoned here until his release in 1960. After his release, Li Xianzhou met with *** and confessed a secret to the prime minister.
Among the Kuomintang generals, Li Xianzhou's uniqueness is self-evident, and his experience is like a legend**. Shandong Han Li Xianzhou was born in 1894, coinciding with the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, as if he was destined to become a famous anti-Japanese general in the future.
Li Xianzhou's original dream was not to become a general, his wish was to become a teacher. He grew up in a family of landlords, was well educated, and had a strong literary background.
At the age of 19, he was admitted to the county single-level professor training institute and studied martial arts at the Jinan Wushu Training Institute for three years. In this way, although he was not a generalist, he was both civil and military, and had the ability to survive and develop in that era.
Therefore, he fulfilled his dream of becoming a teacher by working as a teacher at a prefectural higher elementary school.
Li Xianzhou found his purpose on the road of life. His life seemed to be complete, but he was not willing to settle for it. When his country was in danger, he gave up a decent job and chose to join the military.
He experienced difficulties and setbacks, but he always adhered to his beliefs, and finally succeeded in being admitted to the Whampoa Military Academy and started his new career. His story tells us that as long as we have a goal and determination, we will be able to achieve our dreams.
Surprisingly, Li Xianzhou was successfully admitted to the first phase of Huangpu and became the first batch of students of this school. In that turbulent period of the country, the duration of the cadets of the military academy was not very long, in fact, the cadets of the first phase of Whampoa graduated after only one year of study.
As the first batch of military cadets independently trained by China, Li Xianzhou and others have attracted much attention. Chiang Kai-shek, the principal of Whampoa, was a typical warlord who always insisted on cronyism, and the people he reused were his students except for his fellow villagers, and the Whampoa students were almost regarded as his personal power.
Although Li Xianzhou was not good at being tactful, his bravery, loyalty, and self-cleanliness won Chiang Kai-shek's appreciation, and he continued to get promotions. He was promoted from platoon commander of the teaching regiment to brigade commander, and interesting things happened during this period.
In the midsummer of 1933, he and Chiang Kai-shek went to Lushan to participate in activities. At that time, the heat was unbearable, and Li Xianzhou found a corner in the evening and prepared to take a cold shower.
Unexpectedly, Chiang Kai-shek and his wife Song Meiling happened to walk to the place where he was bathing, and he was only wearing a pair of shorts at this time, which were wet and sticking to his body. Such a scene made Li Xianzhou a little embarrassed, but Chiang Kai-shek just smiled and left.
Li Xianzhou was deeply moved by these words, and a man nearly forty years old almost burst into tears, and he respectfully saluted Chiang Kai-shek to express his admiration for him. It can be seen from this that Chiang Kai-shek did have his own unique methods and strategies in managing and uniting his subordinates, which made Li Xianzhou more loyal to him.
A year later, after meeting with Chiang Kai-shek in Lushan, Li Xianzhou was appointed as the head of the liquidation of the Red Army. He carried out his mission wholeheartedly and carried out a fierce attack on the Red Army in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui border region, inflicting huge losses on the Red Fourth Front Army.
However, despite being a strong and determined man, Li Xianzhou still encountered his old enemy, the Red Tenth Army. They fought each other many times, but Li Xianzhou was always defeated at the hands of the Red Tenth Army, and if it were not for the fact that the Red Army was misguided by Wang Ming, Li Xianzhou might have suffered a defeat in Jiangxi.
Li Xianzhou did not like the Communist Party at first, as early as the National Revolution, he participated in the "April 12 counter-revolutionary coup" as a member of the Eastern Route Army, and was stained with the blood of revolutionaries.
These were all for allegiance to Chiang Kai-shek. However, Li Xianzhou was not a diehard loyalist of Chiang Kai-shek, and they did not have much disagreement on the issue of suppressing the communists, but on the issue of resistance against Japan, Li Xianzhou always kept in mind the hatred of the nation.
In that year, the Northern Expeditionary Army went all the way south and approached Shandong, and Zhang Zongchang and other reactionary warlords were in trouble. In order to save these warlords, the Japanese openly created Jinan and wantonly made the Chinese people.
Li Xianzhou witnessed all this at that time, and was full of bitter hatred for the Japanese. He had angrily stated that he had ordered war with the Japanese army, but Chiang Kai-shek forcibly stopped him.
Despite the pain in his heart, he eventually succumbed to Chiang Kai-shek's will. However, as the Japanese invaded China deepened, Li Xianzhou's views on the current situation began to diverge with Chiang Kai-shek.
He no longer blindly supported Chiang Kai-shek's idea of suppressing the Communists, but advocated resisting the Japanese invaders. Despite Chiang Kai-shek's resolute opposition, Li Xianzhou was not stubborn. However, the occurrence of the Xi'an Incident brought about an unexpected change in the situation of Chiang Kai-shek, and it became a situation that Li Xianzhou and others had been looking forward to for a long time.
In the face of the frenzied provocation of the Japanese aggressors, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party abandoned their previous suspicions and joined hands to resist. Among them, Division Commander Li Xianzhou stepped forward as the commander of the 21st Division and went to the North China battlefield and had many fierce confrontations with the Japanese army.
He participated in 12 major battles, including the Battle of Xinkou, the Battle of Xuzhou, the Battle of Wuhan, the Battle of Zaoyi, and the Battle of Central Henan, and participated in almost all the key battles in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War.
In the fierce battle with Itagaki Seishiro's Fifth Division, although Li Xianzhou's division was extremely heavy, their heroic performance showed the world the determination and courage of the Chinese.
In the Battle of Xinkou, Li Xianzhou disregarded his personal safety, went to the front line in person, fought side by side with the soldiers, and successfully recaptured the Nanhuaihua position. Although he was almost killed by a bullet in the chest during the battle, he was lucky to survive.
In general, Li Xianzhou's performance in the Anti-Japanese War was remarkable. However, he was deeply poisoned by Chiang Kai-shek, had a gateway view, targeted and even attacked the New Fourth Army many times, and participated in the Southern Anhui Incident, which caused great harm to the overall situation of the war.
These actions made it difficult for him to escape his guilt.
After the end of the Anti-Japanese War, Li Xianzhou served as the deputy commander of the second appeasement zone in Jinan and became an important force in Chiang Kai-shek. However, in the Battle of Lunan, Li Xianzhou's troops were fiercely attacked by the People's Liberation Army, and even if Wang Yaowu reminded him in time to shrink his defenses, he could not escape the fate of being surrounded and annihilated.
As a result, he became a prisoner of the People's Liberation Army. After learning that Li Xianzhou was captured, the commander of the East China Field Army not only did not retaliate against him because of his previous position, but was very concerned about him.
After he learned that Li Xianzhou was injured, he also specially sent someone to take care of his life.
In a conversation with Li Xianzhou, ** paid high respect to him and affirmed his achievements in the War of Resistance. Li Xianzhou was deeply moved by this recognition, and he, who was originally wary of the Communist Party, finally untied the knot.
Subsequently, Li Xianzhou unabashedly accepted an interview with **, expressing his long-standing position - opposing civil war and supporting peaceful nation-building.
After Li Xianzhou was captured, Chiang Kai-shek did not hold his ground, but threw himself into the Communist Party and openly opposed the civil war. His behavior made Chiang Kai-shek furious and scolded Li Xianzhou for his rebellion.
But none of this can change what has already happened. Eventually, Li Xianzhou was sent to the Gongdelin War Criminals Management Center, where he underwent labor reform with his old classmates and colleagues.
In the meritorious forest, Li Xianzhou performed well, obeyed management, had a positive attitude, and studied seriously. He also has a very good mentality, eats normally, and gets enough sleep, so he is called "three things", that is, eating, sleeping, and pulling.
However, Li Xianzhou said ......
Although Li Xianzhou's performance in prison was admirable, he always insisted on his position on one thing, and that was not to accept persuasion to surrender Kuomintang officers. He believed that as a defeated general, he was not qualified to persuade others to surrender.
This conviction deprived him of his first chance at pardon, but he never gave up during his eleven years in prison. Eventually, he topped the list in the second amnesty at the end of 1960 and finally made his way through.
After Li Xianzhou was released from prison, he received a special courtesy from ***. It turned out that he was not originally included in this amnesty, but *** personally interrogated and instructed to add his name.
** Even invited Li Xianzhou to his home as a guest and had a cordial conversation. It is worth mentioning that ** is Li Xianzhou's teacher, who was the director of the Whampoa Military Academy back then.
During the meeting, ** expressed concern and appreciation for Li Xianzhou.
When talking about the friendship between teachers and students with ***, Li Xianzhou felt the same way, and he said embarrassedly. Then, ** asked him, and at this moment, Li Xianzhou suddenly said mysteriously.
Ask him with a smile.
At the beginning of 1941, Li Xianzhou accepted a large number of young victims on the pretext of empty salaries, and provided them with opportunities for food, lodging, and study in schools.
Because Li Xianzhou's school was able to provide comprehensive care and high-quality education, attracting many young people from Shandong, Li Xianzhou did not refuse any of them, and provided them with the treatment of a senior soldier, so that the school could operate smoothly.
Later, the school was renamed National No. 22 Middle School and cultivated many outstanding students, and those students who were favored by Li Xianzhou deeply felt his kindness and respectfully called him the old principal.
The reason is revealed, and the prime minister is happy. Li Xianzhou returned to his hometown and his family was reunited. Do not forget the teachings of the Prime Minister and serve the people. In his later years, he was relaxed and meaningful, and wrote a couplet: a righteous body, a breeze on his sleeves.
Li Xianzhou's career is full of merits and demerits, he chose to join the army when he started a family, and was gradually promoted to the first important general, and won a reputation for bravery on the battlefield of resistance against Japan.
From this point of view, his life is indeed full of inspirational elements. However, Li Xianzhou lacked a long-term vision, fell into Chiang Kai-shek's personal favors, turned a blind eye to the suffering of the people, and stubbornly opposed the people, which was really a major mistake.
Although Li Xianzhou was defeated by the People's Liberation Army and became a prisoner, he was to blame for his crimes. In the more than ten years of Gongdelin's life, he was able to sincerely repent and finally complete self-redemption, which is very commendable.
In general, we should show respect to this famous anti-Japanese general.